INDIAN GURU WHOSE FOLLOWERS RIOTED IS SENTENCED FOR RAPE
INDIAN
GURU WHOSE FOLLOWERS RIOTED IS SENTENCED FOR RAPE
An Indian court on Monday
sentenced a well-known guru to 20 years in prison for rape, three days after
followers angered by his conviction engaged in violent protests in which dozens
of people were killed.
The guru, Gurmeet
Ram Rahim Singh, was found guilty on Friday of having raped two women more
than a decade ago. Thousands of Mr. Singh’s followers had gathered in Panchkula
in Haryana State, where the verdict was announced.
They responded by smashing
cars, setting fire to buildings and attacking police officers in the city,
about 150 miles north of Delhi, and the violence later spread to other cities
in northern India. At least 38 people were killed
and more than 250 were injured.
nitial reports indicated that Mr.
Singh had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of the rape
convictions, but that the terms would be served concurrently. But a spokesman
for the Central Bureau of Investigation, which investigated the rape
allegations against Mr. Singh, later said that he would serve the sentence
consecutively.
There were no immediate reports of similar violence after Mr.
Singh’s sentencing on Monday, which was reported by the Press Trust of India and other
news organizations. Soldiers and police officers had been deployed in large
numbers, and the sentence was delivered not in a court but at the jail where
Mr. Singh was being held, in Rohtak, about 50 miles northwest of New Delhi. A
judge was flown to the jail by helicopter.
The authorities had
suspended some train and bus services and put several cities in the area under
curfew in an attempt to prevent further violence.
Mr. Singh, 50, is the
leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, a
sect that has many followers in northern India and claims to have 60 million
worldwide. Often referred to as the “guru of bling,” Mr. Singh is known for his
flashy lifestyle and flamboyant dress.
He was convicted of raping
two women at the headquarters of his sect, in a case that dates to 2002. Mr.
Singh’s lawyers have said they would appeal his conviction.
An earlier version of this
article misstated the prison sentence given to the guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
He was ordered to serve two consecutive 10-year terms, not two concurrent ones.
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