Self -styled godman Rampal was convicted of murdering five women and one child by a local court in Chandigarh on October 11. (Express Photo/File)

SELF-STYLED godman Rampal and his 14 associates were Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with five deaths during a two-week long standoff between his followers and the police in 2014. All 15 accused were also fined Rs 2.05 lakh each. The Hisar court also recommended that “list of fraud godmen be prepared so that people can be aware of them”.

The deceased followers, four women and one child, had died because of suffocation and illness during the police standoff. The police had blamed Rampal and his followers for their death alleging that food and medicines could not be provided to them on time as they were made hostage in Rampal’s Satlok Ashram.

The court will pronounce quantum of sentence in the second murder case against Rampal on Wednesday which pertains to death of a woman follower. On October 11, the court had convicted Rampal and his 26 followers in two separate cases of murder and other offences, including wrongful confinement of his victims at his hermitage.

Additional District and Sessions Judge D R Chalia had on October 11 held the accused guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 343 (wrongful confinement) and 120 B (conspiracy) of the IPC.

“… it has been proved on record that the convict Rampal with the help and conspiracy hatched with other convicts did not even spare his own pious disciples and had acted in illegal manner and therefore, they do not deserve much mercy. In other words, a man who has no concern for humanity nor has any mercy in his nature, does not deserve any mercy from the court with regard to quantum of sentence,” said Chalia in his order.

Quoting an order of the Supreme Court, the judge made it clear that the life imprisonment cannot be equivalent to imprisonment for 14 years or 20 years or even 30 years, rather it means the whole natural life of convicts. “All the convicts are sentenced to imprisonment for life till their natural death,” he said.

In his 154-page order, the judge also recommended that “new laws and Acts like Black Magic Act should be…..(framed),” adding, “The wealth of the charities and other institution run by the godmen should be audited and it should be made mandatory to show the list of donors and expenditures for transparency.”

The 2014 clashes took place as Rampal tried to evade appearance before the High Court in a case. The judge pointed out that the accused “used women and children and old aged innocent followers as their shield and did not let them escape from the Ashram despite their willingness which ultimately led to loss of many human lives”.

“We witnessed a repetition of similar events in the year 2017, when controversial Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was held guilty of raping and sexually exploiting two female disciples by a CBI special court in Panchkula. What followed was arson and violence by the guru’s supporters, a violence that claimed at least 32 people and injured more than 350 people,” Chalia mentioned in his order.

In his detailed order, the judge said: “These self-proclaimed godmen in the present times are ordinary men who are quite clever and eventually good orators who know how to influence the innocent masses…Political patronage sometimes allows these godmen to literally run parallel states, replete with their own armies. Many, in fact, start seeing themselves as being above law, operating in their own zones.”