Above: Self-styled godman Rampal (centre). Photo: UNI

A day after superstar godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim was sent to 20 years in prison for raping two of his ‘sevikas’ at his Panchkula Dera Sacha Sauda, another godman, from Barwala and holed up in jail from 2014, was acquitted by a Hisar (Haryana) court. He was acquitted in two cases pertaining to obstruction of government officers and rioting.

This self-styled ‘spiritual guru’ Rampal was off the hook in this charge on Tuesday (August 29), but a case of murder and another of attempted murder still hang on him, though he had received bail on both counts earlier (2008). He had, though, failed to make court appearances in these cases, following a 22-month jail term. Having refused to go to court, the court issued arrest warrant against him, but arresting him was another issue.

In 2014, at his 12-acre ashram Satlok, Rampal Dass stayed holed up inside as thousands of his followers, wielding stones and clubs, fought off a huge police and paramilitary offensive. This was done to prevent arrest.  The stand-off lasted for a week and six died before Rampal was taken in, along with many of his followers.

The impasse and deaths resulting from them led to a new spate of cases. The list of cases against him now range from murder, attempted murder, sedition, rioting and illegal detention. It is in the rioting and other such cases that the 67-year-old has been acquitted.

The attempted murder and murder cases rose from 2006 when he objected to the core text of Arya Samaj, calling certain parts “impractical and anti-social”. In a clash between the two sects on 12 July 2006, one person was shot dead and 29 others were injured.

The Rampal case verdict was supposed to have been delivered on August 24, but judicial magistrate Mukesh Kumar deferred it in the backdrop of the violence unleashed by Ram Rahim’s followers. In Haryana and in northern India, Rampal’s followers’ list is next to only Ram Rahim’s.

—India Legal Bureau