Rampal, 14 followers get jail for life in murder case
KNOW THE MAN After meeting a Kabir Panthi saint, he rechristened himself as ‘Sant Rampal ji Maharaj’
HISAR: The court of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) here on Tuesday sentenced selfstyled godman Rampal and his 14 followers to life imprisonment "without any remission" for murder, wrongful confinement of people and criminal conspiracy case.
The court of ADSJ Desraj Chalia also slapped a fine of ₹2.5 lakh on each convict. The court pronounced the verdict in the 2014 case after four women and a child were found dead on the Satlok Asharam premises when the police barged into the ashram to arrest him on the orders of Punjab and Haryana High Court. The court had found Rampal and 14 others guilty in the two cases of murder on October 11. The sentence in the second case will be pronounced on Wednesday.
The first case involves the death of four women and a child at the ashram in Barwala town of Hisar on November 18, 2014. In the second case, Rampal and his 13 followers were booked on charges of murder and wrongful confinement after a woman was found dead at the ashram on November 19, 2014. Rampal was arrested the same day on charges of murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, possessing illegal weapons, abetting suicide and waging war against the government of India. Thousands of his followers clashed with police when they came to arrest him following directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a contempt-of-court case.
While talking to HT, deputy district attorney Rajiv Sardana said the court pronounced life imprisonment ‘without remission' (which means they will be in jail till death).
The judge in his detailed judgment copy invoked the lines of Martin Luther King Jr — “Law may not be able to make a man love him, but it can keep the man from lynching him”.
The court observed that the case fell in the category of rarest of rare case. "However, as it has been proved on record that the convict Rampal with the help and conspiracy hatched with other convicts did not even spare his own pious disciples and had acted in illegal manner and therefore, they do not deserve any much mercy. In other words,
a man who has no concern for humanity nor has any mercy in his nature, do not deserve any mercy from the court," the court observed.
He judge also underlined the controversies involving the selfproclaimed godmen. “They initially claim to be spiritual gurus and later proclaim themselves to be 'God' and in the process, end up amassing wealth and abusing vulnerable children and women. In recent times, selfstlyed godmen are in the news for all the wrong reasons.”
RAMPAL SERVED AS A
JUNIOR ENGINEER IN HARYANA IRRIGATION DEPT FOR OVER 15 YRS
CHANDIGARH: Before switching to the money-spinning role of a spiritual master, murder convict and the self-styled godman Rampal Dass was a humble ‘sarkari sewak’ earning his bread and butter as junior engineer (JE) in Haryana’s irrigation department.
Born on September 8, 1951 at Dhanana village of Gohana in Sonepat in a family of farmers, Rampal had a religious inclination since childhood.
Having obtained a diploma from Industrial Training Institute (ITI) Nilokheri of Karnal district, he served as a JE for over 15 years, before quitting in May 1995.
The big break in his otherwise low-profile career as JE had come in 1994 when he came in contact of a Kabir Panthi saint. Shortly after this meeting, Rampal re-christened himself as ‘Sant Rampal ji Maharaj’ promising ‘salvation’.
In 1995, he set up Satlok Ashram of the Kabir Panthi sect. Within a short span, the now jailed godman’s followers doubledand he went on to spread his ‘spiritual empire’ in Jhajjar and Rohtak.
BEGINNING OF LEGAL TROUBLE
His first brush with controversy was in 2006 when the ‘godman’, by then famous for his luxurious lifestyle and huge following, used foul language against Arya Samaj. His diatribe triggered violent clashes in which one man was killed.
This clash was the beginning of his legal troubles. The trial court on Tuesday awarding him life sentence in one murder case is just a trailer of his legal tangles. Rampal was arrested along with his followers on murder charges and was released on bail in 2008.
In 2014, after a tense stand-off with police, he was forced to surrender. His followers were used as a human shield to prevent his arrest at his ashram in Hisar. This was despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking his custody in a contempt matter.
Rampal had even resisted a police operation for his arrest on the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders. He had even refused to appear in the high court to reply to charges like contempt of court. He had holed himself up inside his ashram.
That was the level of his high headedness.
When police went to arrest him, Rampal’s supporters attacked the police with petrol bombs and acid pouches in a bid to prevent the cops from arresting their ‘maharaj’. Five women and a child had died during the stand-off.
Finally, he was arrested following a police operation. Since then he has been cooling his heels in the prison—away from his ashram that had facilities akin to the high-end luxury hotels.