Daijiworld Media Network

Aug 29: "I got justice today," said the woman who was raped by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after the court awarded him the 20 year sentence.

She was glued to the TV on the day his conviction and heaved a sigh of relief when the court convicted the Dera chief for the atrocities she faced. She was raped in 1999 and her brother was killed in 2002 allegedly on the behest of the Dera chief’s followers. She was pressured and even offered money to withdraw the case but nothing seemed to move her from her quest for justice.

Though many women were raped by the Dera chief, and over 18 were convinced by the CBI to give statements, ultimately only two mustered courage to depose against him in the court that led to his conviction.

Speaking to a newspaper correspondent on phone, she said that she was not scared of him when she deposed against him in 2009 in the court and is not scared of him even today.

Now in her early 40’s, she is the mother of two children. She is living under police protection since 2002 and her security was tightened after Singh’s conviction led to violence from his followers.

A relative of the woman says that the woman is from a conservative background but her entire clan stood by her. She was the first one to depose only after which the Sadhvi who wrote the letter also gave a statement against the baba in the court.

The relative claimed that that the woman’s brother was killed on the behest of the Dera chief as he doubted that the anonymous letter was written by her brother. The CBI is also investigating the murder case and the final hearings are to begin on September 16, he added.

An anonymous letter written in 2002 blew the lid on the atrocities committed by the Dera chief who called himself as ‘god’. The letter was addressed to then Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and several top institutions, including the Punjab and Haryana high court. The High Court had ordered an inquiry after it received the letter.

The Sadhvi who wrote the letter said that she was raped in the Dera chief’s ‘gufa’ (room). She said she was called to his room at around 10 pm. The Dera chief had a revolver next to him and was watching an adult movie. He then tried making sexual advances, to which she objected. He then threatened her and raped her. She wrote that she was repeatedly raped by him after that.

Rape was not something new for the Sadhvis. They refered to it as ‘Pitaaji’s Maafi’. The self styled godman used to rape them and say that is a ‘Maafi’ for their mistakes and they would be purified after the rape.

The letter highlighted that the Sadhvis who objected to the sexual advances were generally harassed. Women lived in fear and many had crossed the age of marriage and hence silently came in term with circumstances.

The Sadhvi in the letter said "a medical examination of all Sadhvis would let you and our parents know whether we are still virgin or our lives have been destroyed. Our medical examination would reveal that our lives have been ruined by Maharaj Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh ji".

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel of the Punjab and Haryana high court had taken suo motu cognizance of the issue raised in the letter on September 3, 2002, and directed the district and sessions judge of Sirsa to visit the Dera and submit a report.

After receiving the report, Justice Goel ordered CBI probe into the case on September 24, 2002.