RIOTS AT ‘GODMAN’ RAPE CONVICTION
A member of the security forces and an ambulance driver carry the body of a man killed during violence in Panchkula.
Violent protests erupted in India on Friday, killing at least 14 people, after a court convicted a self-styled ‘godman’ of raping two women, angering thousands of his supporters, who said he was innocent.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of a social welfare and spiritual group, was found guilty of raping two followers in a case dating back to 2002 at the headquarters of his Dera Sacha Sauda group in the northern town of Sirsa.
Supporters rampaged in response, attacking railway stations, petrol stations and television vans in towns across the northern states of Punjab and Haryana.
At least 14 people were killed, most of them in Panchkula, where the court returned its verdict on Singh. More than 200 were injured.
Dozens of cars were burning in Panchkula, while a body lay at a roadside. Television showed frantic scenes outside a hospital in Panchkula, with medical staff transferring injured patients from ambulances to wheelchairs and stretchers. Smoke was rising in another part of town.
Protests also erupted in New Delhi and in the state of Rajasthan. Supporters of the ‘godman’ set fire to buses and two empty train coaches in the capital.
Singh commands a following that he claims is in the millions. Supporters started gathering in the streets outside the court on Thursday.
“The court has convicted Ram Rahim Singh of rape charges,” Kohal Dev Sharma, a prosecutor said. “Justice has finally prevailed.”