Rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to serve 20 years in jail, not 10

KalingaTV News Network

Bhubaneswar: In a big jolt to rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, it has now emerged that the CBI court in Panchkula has awarded the Dera chief 20 years of imprisonment and not 10 years as was reported by the media earlier.

Gurmeet Singh was awarded two sentences of 10 years each for the two counts of rape that he was convicted for. The two sentences will run back to back and not concurrently, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s lawyer SK Narwana clarified this evening. Besides, he will also pay a fine of Rs 15 lakh in each of the two cases, Narwana said.

Rs 14 Lakhs each will be given to the two rape victims, he said.

Meanwhile, it has been decided to impose curfew in Punjab’s Barnala from 9 PM today until 9 AM tomorrow to prevent any possible flare up over the verdict.

Earlier, Ram Rahim broke down in the court and sought forgiveness, invoking his contribution to many social causes, including the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

After sentencing, Ram Rahim Singh refused to move out of the jail court room in Rohtak. He had to be dragged out.

The verdict in the case was delivered amidst heavy security 14 years after the case was filed against the Dera chief. A case of sexual exploitation was registered against the controversial godman in 2002. An anonymous letter was written by a Dera sadhvi to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court accusing him of rape.

It was alleged that that he had sexually exploited two ‘sadhvis’. After CBI questioned 18 sadhvis, two sadhvis accused Ram Rahim of raping them.

The trial against Ram Rahim commenced in 2008. He was charged under Section 376 (rape) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on September 6, 2008.

He has also been named in a case of murder of a journalist in 2002 and forced castration of some sadhus in 2014.