Haryana Court convicts Gurmeet Ram Rahim: Quantum of sentence on August 28

Chandigarh/ Haryana, August 25: The Haryana Court found Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty in the 2002 rape case. Quantum of sentence is on August 28th.

The self styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of the influential Dera Sacha Sauda sect, was alleged for molesting two of his sadhvis (women followers) 15 years ago.

‘Premis’, followers of the Gurmeet, stand against all the allegations raised about their guru. On Thursday, around 1.5 lakh premis had gathered in Panchkula, where the court was to deliver the verdict on Friday, saying that they just need a glimpse of their guru. Gurmeet’s followers were to create havoc if their guru got punished. Most of the followers fell to the ground and wept outside the Dera headquarters. From the past two days, Dera premis were making all the police personnel to be on their toes.

Government offices, colleges and schools in Panchkula were kept closed on Friday to keep themselves safe from unrest, if any. About 200 Haryana-Bound trains were cancelled. In addition to police guarding, Centre deployed around 15,000 paramilitary troops.

Gurmeet, on Thursday, told that he would appear before the court despite his back pain, and had asked his followers to maintain peace. On Friday, the self styled godman left for the court from Sirsa in convoy of over 100 cars with Z+ security.

The whole place is under police security. Army had arrived to monitor the situation. The Centre on Thursday had assured assistance. Union Home Ministry said that it was observing the area closely from a Delhi control room.