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Journalism of Courage
The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today (May 28) for the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002. Despite the reversal of Ram Rahim Singh’s 2021 conviction in the case, he will remain imprisoned in a jail in Rohtak, Haryana, as a result of convictions in two other criminal cases.
In August 2017, he was convicted of two counts of rape and in January 2019, he was convicted for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The Dera chief filed an appeal at the High Court against both decisions. In another ongoing case, he has been accused of compelling around 400 of his male followers to receive castrations based on “false promises”.
What are these cases and what is their current status?
In July 2002, a Dera manager named Ranjit Singh was murdered in Sirsa, Haryana. In November 2003, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the CBI to investigate the case.
According to the CBI chargesheet that was subsequently filed, an anonymous letter had been doing the rounds, accusing the DSS chief of sexually exploiting sadhvis (women followers) inside the Dera premises. The CBI postulated that Ram Rahim suspected Ranjit Singh of circulating the letter and had him murdered.
In October 2021, a special CBI court held the DSS chief and four of his followers guilty of conspiring to murder Ranjit Singh. The special judge denied the CBI’s plea to sentence him to death, and instead opted for life imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 31 lakh, half of which was given to Ranjit Singh’s family.
The five convicts including Ram Rahim appealed this decision at the High Court, which reversed the conviction for all five of the accused on May 28, 2024.
Anonymous letter leads to rape conviction
The anonymous letter from 2002 was addressed to then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and written by a person who claimed to be a sadhvi at the Dera for five years. She wrote that the “Dera Maharaj” forced the women there to have sex with him and also threatened them and their families with death if the women did not comply.
In September 2002, the Punjab and Haryana HC ordered the CBI to investigate the allegations in the letter. A chargesheet was filed in 2007 and the CBI Special Judge began hearing the case in October 2013.
After dozens of hearings over the next four years, the DSS chief was found guilty on two counts of rape and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2017. The judge also ordered him to pay a fine of Rs. 15 lakh to each victim. Ram Rahim has appealed this conviction in the high court.
On October 24, 2002, journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot dead by two men on a motorbike outside his residence in Sirsa. Chhatrapati had published the anonymous letter about the DSS chief exploiting women in a local Hindi newspaper called Poora Sach. His son Anshul Chhatrapati approached the HC in 2003, seeking a CBI investigation into the case.
In 2006, the investigation was handed over to the CBI, which filed a chargesheet against the DSS chief and his three followers – Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh, and Kishan Lal. The CBI Special Judge in Panchkula, Haryana, found all four guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in November 2019 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. An appeal against this decision is pending at the Punjab and Haryana HC as well.
Forced castration of 400 followers
In July 2012, DSS follower Hansraj Chauhan filed a petition at the Punjab and Haryana HC. He claimed that between 1999 and 2000, around 400 men (including himself) were forced by DSS leaders and Ram Rahim to undergo surgery for the removal of their testicles at the Dera.
The Dera chief was alleged to have claimed that the “castration would lead to realisation of God through him”.
In December 2014, the HC handed over the investigation to the CBI and it remains pending.
The case was last heard in April 2017 and the order indicates that the CBI investigation was still ongoing then. The counsel appearing for the CBI assured the bench that it would be completed before the next date of hearing, which was posted for July 7, 2017. However, there is no record of a hearing taking place on this date or in the following years.
