Rampal, 14 others get life in jail for killing women, child
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 of the convict. The court pronounced the verdict in the 2014 case after four women and one child were found dead on the Satlok Asharam premises when the police barged in the ashram 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 char- ges 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 to Rampal and his 14 followers 'without any remission' (which means that Rampal will serve the jail term till his 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 Ram- pal 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 innocent and vulnerable children and women. In recent times, self-stlyed godmen are in the news for all the wrong reasons.”
The district administration had made elaborate security arrangements in the area and did not allow Rampal's followers to reach in the city.
Hisar superintendent of police (SP) Shiv Charan said, "We installed 37 nakas in the city. Not even single Rampal follower could enter the city during the sentencing."