Rahim’s kin return to Rajasthan

It was a quiet home-coming for the two women.

Their house would have been teeming with fawning visitors but a lot has changed since August 25 for Naseeb Kaur and Harjit Kaur.

They came to Gurusar Mundia in Rajasthan’s Sriganganagar district late on Monday, a few hours after a court in neighbouring Haryana ordered Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to 20 years in jail for raping his two disciples.

Naseeb Kaur is the mother and Harjit the wife of the 50-yearold self-styled godman, whose followers ran riot on August 25 after he was found guilty of rape.

The violence left 38 people dead and 250 injured.

Arson was also reported from some parts of Rajasthan, including Sriganganagar.

The two women, who have shunned the limelight unlike the flamboyant sect leader who loved the spotlight, have locked themselves in. Visitors are not allowed. Little is known about the women. It was Singh’s “adopted daughter” Honeypreet who accompanied him to the Panchukla court and then to Rohtak jail after he was found guilty of rape.

He has two daughters and a son with Harjit.

People rushed to the house to catch a glimpse of them but returned disappointed -- the gate was locked, sources said.

The two came to village in a cavalcade of six vehicles, Sriganganagar district collector Gyana Ram said.

Dera supporters who came to drop them left soon after.

The women, according to the villagers, used to live in Haryana’s Sirsa, the headquarters of the dera that has a considerable following in Punjab, Haryana and parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

A lot of dera followers left Sirsa ahead of the verdict as security forces patrolled the town but many were holed up in the sprawling campus.