Ram Rahim was convicted by the special CBI court on August 25, following which violence and arson had erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa districts which left 41 people dead and scores of injured. Photo credit: PTI.
Jailed head of Dera Sacha Sauda Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh challenging the verdict of the special CBI court that sentenced him to 20-years of rigorous imprisonment.
The sect head has been convicted in two rape cases and is currently lodged in the Rohtak jail in Haryana. His counsel Vishal Garg Narwana on Monday said, "We have filed an appeal in the High Court challenged the order of the CBI court". The plea is yet to be taken up by the Court.
The CBI verdict pronounced last month in a Panchkula court has been challenged on various grounds. The delay of more than six years in recording the statements of the victims by the CBI is one ground cited by Dera chief’s counsel in the petition. The petition also mentions that the medical examination of the victim was not conducted. The Dera chief, during the trail in the lower court, has maintained that he was incapable of having any physical relationship.
A complaint against the sect head was filed nearly 15 years ago. Two of his women disciples accused him of raping them. After a prolonged trial, the CBI court on August 25 sentenced Gurmeet Ram Rahim to 20 years in jail. He has also been fined Rs 15 lakh in each of the two cases. As many as 40 lives were lost in Panchkula and Sirsa, the epicenters of the violence that broke after the verdict was announced. In 2002, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suomotu cognizance of a letter written by a woman disciple to the then PM Vajpayee.
The CBI was directed to register a case against Singh. The self-proclaimed Godman is also facing trial in two separate cases of murder, including one of a journalist. The CBI court is likely to pronounce the judgement in these cases sometime next month as the two cases are in their final stage of trial.