Ram Rahim moves HC against rape conviction

CHANDIGARH: Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Ra him Sing hon Monday moved the Punjab and Haryana high court challenging his rape conviction by the CBI special court.

“We have filed an appeal challenging the conviction in the high court,” said SK Narwana, counsel for dera chief.

Ram Rahim, who is currently lodged at Sunaria jail near Rohtak, was convicted by the CBI court in Panchkula on August 25 on two counts of rape of female disciples in a case dated back to 2002. He was later awarded 20 years of rigorous imprisonment (10 years in each rape case) by the CBI court, and a fine of over Rs 30 lakh.

“There are serious and material contradictions and omissions in the testimony of the prosecution wit-

nesses and the net result is that the prosecution has miserably failed to prove its case against Ram Rahim. One of them is that medical of the girls were never conducted nor was there any FIR lodged by them,” said dera chief’s counsel while talking about the grounds on which the conviction had been challenged. “There was no complainant. It was an anonymous complaint. The identity of the complainant remained unknown during the inquiry during the investigation till 30-07-2007 and till the conclusion of the trial, but still the FIR and the circumstances of lodging the same have been used by the trial Court as a piece of evidence,” said the appeal

“The victims had got their statements recorded before the CBI after more than 6 years. Further, these statements were never placed on record,” added advocate Narwana.