RSS can’t force rethink on quota, says Paswan
FEAR FACTOR Charge sheet says the women were afraid to speak out as the ‘Dera chief and his men were dangerous’
NEW DELHI : The views of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) have no bearing on the Narendra Modi government’s policy on reservation for the backward castes and classes, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday.
CHANDIGARH: The CBI contacted as many as 150 women followers of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in a probe extending over five years before finally filing a charge sheet that accused sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of sexual exploitation in 2007.
And yet, only two of them agreed to depose against the Dera head. A possible reason for this can be found in the 25-page charge sheet filed before the court, where it quotes several sadhvis (female disciples) as saying that they feared speaking out because the chief, its management and followers are “dangerous people”.
“Investigations conducted by the CBI discloses that Gurmeet Ram Rahim... raped “sadhvi X” in August 1999 and thereafter in 2000. She and her brother were threatened not to disclose anything about the incident to anybody. Rahim also raped “sadhvi Y” on the dera premises in September 1999 and threatened her in the same way. Thus, Ram Rahim committed offences punishable under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC,” the CBI document reads. It had listed 28 prosecution witnesses, including investigating officers and judicial officers, and 14 supporting documents were appended. The charge sheet stated that though the 130 female disciples contacted at the Dera initially declined to open up, a few relented in the days that followed.
“Twenty-four sadhvis who left the Dera between 1997 and 2002 were contacted. Of them, we managed to trace 18 and examine them,” the CBI said. The two former disciples who eventually deposed against the chief were among the 18 who left. The CBI cited the lie-detection test reports of three accused — Avtar Singh, Inder Sain and Krishan Lal — as crucial evidence because there were discrepancies in their accounts. All three were part of Dera chief’s inner circle.