Indian court sentences self-styled “godman” to 20 years in prison
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has a vast rural following in Punjab and Haryana states, where frenzied mobs burned down gas stations and train stations and torched vehicles after a local court on Friday found him guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case.
An Indian court sentenced a controversial religious leader to 20 years in prison on Monday for raping two of his followers, authorities said.
A lawyer for the victims had said Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been sentenced to 10 years in jail, but India’s Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) later clarified he received two consecutive 10-year sentences.
“He has been sentenced for 10 plus 10, which is a total of 20 years of imprisonment. I have the judgement which details the sentence,” said Abhishek Dayal, spokesman for the CBI, which prosecuted the case.
Earlier, Indian authorities deployed thousands of riot police and shut down internet services in Haryana and Punjab in preparation for the sentencing.
Supporters of Singh’s cult resorted to violent protests last week, which killed at least 38 and injured more than 200 in Haryana state, after a local court found him guilty of raping two women in a case dating back to 2002.
The cult has a vast rural following in the states of Punjab and Haryana.
