A CBI court in Panchkula on Friday found Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty in a rape case and the quantum of sentence will be pronounced on August 28. The self-acclaimed spiritual guru now faces up to seven years in jail.
It all began in 2002 when a woman wrote an anonymous letter to the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee claiming that she and other sadhvis were raped by the spiritual guru. Two of the survivors also recorded the statement before the judges in 2009 and 2010 which led to the conviction of the Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Friday.
The sadhvis narrated the horrifying tale before CBI judges as how the “powerful Baba” raped many women inside his ‘gufa’ (an underground chamber which was also his personal residence). They also told the court that there were certain code which were used by his disciples. Like ‘maafi’ (pardon) was used for rapes.
In the statement, survivors mentioned that only female disciples were deployed to guard his underground personal residence. One of the sadhvis said that she could not understand when the female disciples at the Dera use to ask her if has been “granted maafi by pitaji”. She said the code word got clear when she was called inside the “gufa” and raped by the self-acclaimed spiritual guru.
Meanwhile, soon after the pronouncement of judgment by the CBI court, violence erupted in several parts of Haryana which led to the death of around 30 people and more than 250 were injured. In some parts such as Panchkula curfew was also imposed. Many followers created havoc by setting ablaze buildings, vehicles and railway stations.
(Source: Times of India)
For interesting news videos from InUth, follow us on Youtube.com/InUthdotcom
