Her statement led to the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. She was the first of the two women, to depose against Ram Rahim, resulting in not only his conviction, but also twenty years of imprisonment, reported The Hindu .
The report also added that the CBI convinced 18 women to provide evidence against the self-acclaimed godman but only two deposed against him.
Speaking to The Hindu, the woman said that she was “not scared of him then, and she was not scared of him now”.
He was present in the courtroom when I deposed against him in 2009. I was not scared of him then, nor am I scared of him today.
She was reportedly assaulted when she was a student of college run inside the Dera Sacha headquarters in Sirsa.
The woman, now is her early 40s, has been living under police protection since 2002, when the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBI to investigate allegations of rape and sexual assault against him.
The woman’s brother was allegedly murdered on orders from Ram Rahim Singh, as he suspected that the brother sent the ‘anonymous letter’ that led to the registration of rape and assault case against him by CBI. The final hearings for the murder case against the godman will begin on 16 September.
According to the woman’s relative, the court hearing in 2009, was the only time the woman deposed in front of the judge. The woman’s father represented her in the subsequent hearings.
The relative also alleged that the Ram Rahim’s guards used to come to the court with weapons and threatened the family not to pursue the case further.
They were even ready to pay any amount quoted by us.Relative to The Hindu
The relative added that the Sadhvi, who deposed before the court, “mustered courage to tell the court of Ram Rahim’s atrocities” only after the woman went to court.
The report added that the woman is married to a farmer and has two children.
(With inputs from The Hindu)
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