A family united by loss in battle against Baba
WAITING FOR JUSTICE Suspected of circulating a letter about the sexual exploitation of ‘sadhvis’, Ranjit was allegedly murdered by dera followers on July 10, 2002, at Khanpur Kolian
KHANPURKOLIAN(KURUKSHETRA): “It took a long time, I had stopped believing in justice,” Kalawati smiled tremulously through her tears when she learnt about the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case on Friday.
Her only son, Ranjit Singh, was allegedly killed by dera followers who suspected him of circulating the letter about the sexual exploitation of “sadhvis” (female followers) in 2002, which led to this case. A female member of the family, a former “sadhvi” in the dera, also deposed in the case.
The silver-haired woman with hazel eyes is the matriarch of a family that dared to take on the dera chief, whose followers have brought Haryana and Punjab to a standstill.
For 15 long years, five sisters and their husbands stood like a rock behind their father, Joginder Singh, who died last year, to get justice for their only brother.
An ardent follower of Ram Rahim and part of his inner circle, the 10-member committee, Ranjit dissociated himself from the dera in 2000 after allegedly learning about some wrongdoings there.
“An anonymous letterin May 2002 led the dera to suspect Ranjit, following which emissaries of the dera chief threatened him,” alleges Prabhu Dayal, Ranjit’s brother-in-law.
“Ranjit had nothing to do with the letter, which was circulated by the Tarksheel Society, but since it mentioned a Kurukshetra family that had left the dera in a huff, they thought it was him,” adds Dayal. Two months later on July 10, Ranjit was found murdered in the fields. He was 42. Dayal says the killers returned to take his body away but did not succeed as he and other family members kept guard.
“This ruling has restored our faith in justice. I only wish papaji was here to see this day,” Ranjit’s widow Rani wipes a tear, remembering her father-in-law Joginder, who remained sarpanch of KhanpurKolianfor35 years,and chairman of Land Mortgage Bank for five years.
It wasn’t an easy battle. “My son Jagseer was only seven, my younger daughter Geetu was 12 and my elder one Ritu had just got engaged when Ranjit was killed,” Rani dabs her eyes. The family has lost count of the threats it’s received. “So many times, we were followed by vehicles,” says Dayal, who used to accompany his father-in-law to the court for hearings in the cases against the dera chief. “I was asked to seek security, but I said when a bullet has to find me, it will,” says Dayal.
Ranjit’s brother-in-law Suraj Malik says the cops attempted to divide the family by blaming some members for Ranjit’s murder. Rani remembers how some people even tried to lure them into dropping the charges with promises of jobs and money, but the family members stood their ground.
The family says it tried to enlist the help of the media but to no avail. “No one was ready to publish a word against the dera chief,” rues Rani. “I held press conferences in Chandigarh but not a word was reported,” fumes Dayal.
The family has learnt to live with fear. And it’s learnt to protect one another. So they married off Jagseer, 21, last December. “His father wouldn’t have agreed to marry him off at such a young age but I had no choice,” says Rani. This morning, Jagseer’s father-in-law was the first to reach their house.
Rani recalls Ranjit’s dedication to the dera. “A staunch devotee, he’d even got a room built for the dera chief on the first floor,” says Rani, recounting how Ram Rahim used to campin their house with his entourage. But later, Ranjit regretted wasting the prime years of life at the dera, she recalls.
Saroj Bala, who tears up as she says there is not a day when she doesn’t miss her brother Ranjit, narrates how he had even admitted his two daughters to the dera school.
“He was always at the beck and call of the dera, he would go there at midnight if they needed him,” she says.
Ranjit’s younger daughter, Geetu, mother of two-year-old Pratyaksh, is now emotionally prepping herself for the final hearing in her father’s murder case, slated for September 16. “I don’t know what will happen in the court, but why didn’t the baba call on us after my father’s death if the dera didn’t have a hand in it?” she asks.
The family knows it’s a long battle. But they are banking on faith. As Kalawati sums it up: “It’s not easy, we are no match for the dera, but we won’t give up. After all, no one is above God. ”Not even MSG, Messenger of God.