Rohtak: Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been sent to jail for 10 years for violating two sadhvis between 1991 and 2001.
Panchkula Judge Jagdeep Singh, who pleaded guilty Friday to the cult of God, was taken to the Sunaria jail in Rohtak Monday morning to read the sentence to Ram Rahim in an impromptu prison set up inside the prison .
The special judge of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Singh, gave the prosecution and defense ten minutes each to discuss his case on the sentence.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation demanded that Ram Rahim be set for maximum time, defense lawyer S K Garg Narwana pleaded for the judge to take an indulgent stance since Dera’s chief “has worked for the welfare of the people.”
Utsav Singh Bains, a lawyer for the victims, said he would seek a longer sentence and asked the IWC to investigate dozens of more alleged cases of abuse.
“We will be filing two appeals shortly, one to improve punishment and one to further investigate the case,” Bains told AFP by telephone.
“We believe there are at least 48 other victims who were sexually abused and who may have been killed or are too frightened to go out and testify against Ram Rahim.”
After the sentence, Ram Rahim was taken for a medical checkup, given a prison uniform and placed in a cell.
Reports of sporadic violence were widespread before the verdict was read. Two cars were set on fire by supporters of Dera Sacha Sauda in the Phoolka area of Sirsa of Haryana, the seat of the sect.
President of the Dera, Vipassana Insan, called on followers to respect the sentence peacefully.
Shortly after the CBI judge sentenced Ram Rahim for rape, Punjab’s main minister, Amarinder Singh, said there was “total normality” in the state.
“Our forces are on their toes, they will not let any unpleasant incidents occur,” he said. He also said that this phrase “should be accepted by the people and peace should prevail,” he said.
Haryana, Punjab and parts of Uttar Pradesh were under heavy security coverage on Monday to avoid any repetition of the chaos following the guilty verdict on Friday.
Thirty-eight people have so far died in the violence perpetrated by followers of the Ram Rahim sect, the Dera Sacha Sauda.
At the heart of the security activity was Dera, Sirsa, and the Sunaria jail in Rohtak, where the condemned Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was kept.
At least 4,000 Army members guarded the jail, 10 kilometers from the city of Rohtak, in a three-level security deck.
The curfew continued Monday at Sirsa, as did the state suspension of mobile Internet services. Internet services will be suspended in Haryana until 11:30 am on Tuesday.
Schools and colleges in Haryana, Punjab and the Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh were closed on Monday.
Thousands of supporters who had gathered at Dera’s headquarters in Sirsa were also expelled by the administration.
The rape against Ram Rahim has been dragging since April 2002 when an anonymous letter written to the chief justice of Punjab and Haryana complained about the sexual exploitation of female followers in the Dera.
Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati of Sirsa, who had exposed this holding, was shot dead at his residence on 24 October 2002. This case is for his next hearing on 16 September.
Acting on the letter, the Supreme Court handed the matter over to the IWC later that year after a district court indicated the possibility of sexual harassment.
The IWC recorded a case of rape and criminal intimidation in December 2002 and filed an indictment against Ram Rahim in mid-2007 for the sexual exploitation of two sadhvis between 1991 and 2001.
A daily hearing was ordered by the IWC special court in July 2017 followed by the guilty verdict on August 25, 2017.
