Life sentence to Rampal, 14 followers for murder

  • | Wednesday | 17th October, 2018

Rampal and 14 of his followers had urged the court not to sentence them to death. India may be a religious country, but that should not give politicians a reason to mix politics with religion. All the sentences will run concurrently.The judge also highlighted the alleged nexus between these “godmen” and some politicians. “Political patronage sometimes allows these godmen to literally run parallel states, replete with their own armies, at times. The superiority is convincing.”Chalia, who presided over a special court inside Hisar central jail, where Rampal is lodged, observed that this was not a rarest of rare cases.

HISAR:In a stinging attack on so-called godmen, additional district and sessions judge D R Chalia on Tuesday sentenced controversial preacher Rampal and 14 of his followers to life imprisonment without remission after convicting them five days ago in two cases of murder In his 154-page judgment, the judge said religion and politics should be kept separate. “The wealth of charities and other institutions run by these godmen should be audited and it should be mandatory for these institutions to show the list of donors and expenditure for transparency. A list of fraud godmen should also be prepared,” he wrote.While sentencing 15 convicts, including Rampal, in the first case, the court also directed each of them to pay Rs 2,05,000 fine — he sentenced all of them to life imprisonment and Rs 1 lakh fine for murder, life imprisonment and Rs 1lakh fine for criminal conspiracy and two-year imprisonment and Rs 5,000 fine for illegal confinement. All the sentences will run concurrently.The judge also highlighted the alleged nexus between these “godmen” and some politicians. “Political patronage sometimes allows these godmen to literally run parallel states, replete with their own armies, at times. Many, in fact, start seeing themselves as being above law, operating in their own zones, where they command unparalleled devotion and in what can be argued, true power in the form of mass following.”“This is a huge problem. India may be a religious country, but that should not give politicians a reason to mix politics with religion. We are after all a secular democracy. The true definition of secularism is to keep religion out of politics. Similarly, democracy necessarily implies keeping politics out of religion. When the two mix, things get messy,” the judge observed.It’s not rarest of rare cases: JudgeThe judge also described these “godmen” as a “brand,” saying, “They have their own outlets, and are a symbol of religion itself. Profits are huge. Sales are high. Godmen now cure your disease, glow your skin, and have most authentic agarbattis and what not. The beliefs are strong. The superiority is convincing.”Chalia, who presided over a special court inside Hisar central jail, where Rampal is lodged, observed that this was not a rarest of rare cases. Rampal and 14 of his followers had urged the court not to sentence them to death. Seeking minimum punishment, Rampal had argued that he was a social worker and had not been convicted in any criminal case prior to this.According to sources, Rampal stood stoically as the judge announced the quantum of sentence on Tuesday.Defence advocates Mahender Singh Nain and AP Singh said they were not satisfied and would move the high court against the judgment.There were 29 accused, including Rampal, in the two cases. With six accused common in the two cases, all 23 were convicted in the two murder cases after the prosecution established that bodies were recovered from Satlok Ashram after the police had stormed it in 2014 and a large number of people had been confined in a very small place in a bid to ensure that the preacher was not arrested.Rampal was arrested on November 19, 2014 after the police stormed his ashram. He was facing a contempt of court case before the Punjab and Haryana high court for trying to influence judicial proceedings in a murder case pending against him in a lower court. He had, however, stubbornly challenged the high court's orders even after non-bailable warrants were issued against him.

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