Ram Rahim told sadhvis he raped that he was ‘making them pure’

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 6

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, currently in jail for rape, used to tell women disciples he raped in his gufa (cave) that by becoming sadhvis they had given their mind and body to him and hence he could use their body the way he wished.

Ram Rahim also used to tell them that they had become ‘apavitra’ (impure) due to their past sins and whatever he was doing to their body was just to make them ‘pavitra’ (pure) and to grant them ‘mafi’ (forgiveness) for their past mistakes.

This is part of the statement given by one of the rape victims, mentioned as Prosecutrix–A, in the 167-page conviction order of the Special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh.

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The judgment quotes the victim as telling in her statement that some sadhvis used to ask her as to whether Pitaji (Ram Rahim) had granted ‘mafi’ to her or not, but she could never understand its meaning. Whenever she asked them to explain the meaning, they would laugh at her.

On the intervening night of August 28 and 29, 1999, the victim was taken by dera ashram in-charge to the ‘gufa’.

The victim gave details of what happened inside the gufa and how she was raped by Ram Rahim whom she considered her god.

It was only after this incident that she realised what ‘mafi’ is.

The dera chief asked her of her past life and mistakes and showed her a letter written to her by a boy telling her that she need not worry now as he had granted her forgiveness for her past mistakes by purifying her body.

She also learnt from others that Ram Rahim used to summon girls to his gufa in the new as well as the old deras.

Almost a year after the first incident, she was again called to the gufa. Scared from her first experience, she refused to go, but was threatened that she would not be given food from the langar.

This time, when Ram Rahim was violating her, she threatened that she would reveal everything to her brother Ranjit Singh who also lived in the dera.

The Baba, however, told her that her brother would not believe her as he was a staunch dera follower and even if he believed; he (Baba) would get him killed and buried in the dera.

When the victim was called a third time almost six months after the second incident, she managed to free herself from his clutches and ran out of the gufa and narrated the incident to her brother.

Ranjit left the dera with the victim and his two daughters.

Later, Ranjit was shot dead at his village in Kurukshetra district in July 2002 after an anonymous letter alleging rapes of dera sadhvis by Ram Rahim was circulated.

Ram Rahim is also the prime accused for Ranjit Singh’s murder as well as the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati who published contents of this letter in his newspaper ‘Poora Sach’.

The rape convict Baba used the similar modus operandi with the second victim (mentioned as Prosecutrix-B) too.