Social service cannot absolve Sirsa dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim from his criminal liability: CBI judge

CHANDIGARH: Special CBI judge Sushil Kumar Garg on Monday observed that dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s social welfare activities cannot absolve him from criminal liability, and awarded life imprisonment to the sect chief and four others in Ranjit Singh murder case.
In his detailed judgment, the judge said, “Social welfare activities could not absolve accused/convict Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh from his criminal liability, for, the law does not permit any person to take away the life of anybody and then to plead leniency on the ground of social welfare works done by him or at his instance.”
The dera chief had submitted a list of social service activities like blood donation camp, eye camp, relief activities during natural calamities, to seek leniency in sentence from the court.
The order further reads, “The object of punishment is not only to punish the wrongdoer but also to give him a guiding lesson that he should not commit such an offence in future and also to strike a warning note to others, who intend to take law in their own hands.”
“In the instant case, life of an innocent citizen was snuffed out simply because he was a brother of a rape victim and suspected of circulating anonymous letter against the dera head. However, mobocracy and violent attacks on innocent citizens have no place in a democracy like ours which is governed by rule of law and sound constitutional norms.”
The court order says, “Settled legal proposition is that the nature of offence; the circumstances in which it was committed; and the degree of deliberation shown by the offender should be considered at the time of fixing punishment for any particular crime. The measure of punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the offence. The fundamental purpose of imposition of sentence is based on the principle that the accused must realise that the crime committed by him has not only created a dent in the life of the victim but also a concavity in the social fabric.”
The order added, “It has to be borne in mind that while awarding sentence, it is obligatory on the part of the court to see the impact of the offence on the society as a whole and its ramifications on the immediate collective as well as its repercussions on the victim.”
“Awarding of life imprisonment is a rule and death sentence is an exception. It is, therefore, necessary to examine as to whether the case in hand is of such a nature where there is no alternative other than to award death sentence… In the instant case, no doubt convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim already stood convicted and sentenced earlier in two cases, but there is no denying the fact that appeals against the said judgments of conviction and order of sentence are pending before the high court. The appeals are continuation of the main case and outcome of the same cannot be predicted at this stage. Therefore, the earlier convictions of the accused in the said two cases cannot be the determinating factor warranting the award of death penalty in the present case,” the CBI court order stated.