The murky world of a godman

ENB Editorial Poster-  Godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim

The murky world of a godman

Law has the power to punish those who deceive in the name of God. Ask Gurmeet Ram Rahim
Hassan Zainagiree

Srinagar, Publish Date: Aug 31 2017

The self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim after being convicted by a CBI court has been sentenced for 20 years rigorous imprisonment—ten years each for rape of his two disciples. The court has also ordered compensation of  Rs 14 lakh each of the two victims. Given the huge following of the  head of the sect, Dera Sacha Soda, and the political clout and influence of the  ‘guru’ and the ‘spirituality’ exterior the `baba’ has draped himself with, the painstaking efforts by CBI  in bringing the culprit to the book and  the judge Jagdeep Singh’s delivering justice to the victims deserves appreciation.

GRR  is not an ordinary godman. He is ‘an all-rounder sportsperson, versatile singer, rock musician, actor, film maker, director and author’.  His music album ‘High Way Love Charger’  was reported to have sold a record three million copies in just three days.  He made his debut in the films in 2015 and played various roles in the movie titled MSG : The Messenger (the MSG stands for ‘Messenger of God’).  In 1990  Dera head Shah Satnam Singh anointed the 23 year Gurmeet  as Ram Rahim and announced him his successor. By 2015, the sect, head-quartered at Sirsa district in Haryana, spread to 46 ashrams across India.  Dera claimed it had a following of five crore people,  25 lakh in Haryana only.  His followers include cricketers, celebrities and politicians. Umeet Shah and Sushma Suraj personally met him to seek support in elections in Haryana. He was awarded with ‘ most versatile personality of the year’ by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fernandis in February 2017.  In 2015 the Indian Express placed him at position 96 in list of  ‘Hundred most powerful Indians’. The empire he established at thousands of kanals of land at Sirsa runs a hospital, a housing complex, scores of manufacturing units and shops over a 2 Km long stretch. Under him Dera contributed in many humanitarian tasks like blood and organ donation, drug de-addiction, education to needy and motivated youth to marry prostitutes.

Pleading GRR’s impressive role as a philanthropist and social reformer, his counsel sought leniency  in sentence for the convict. The judge rejecting the plea held the  case was  of ‘custodial rape’ and the so called MSG  deserve no sympathy. On  ‘pedestal of god’, as the honorable judge remarked, the victims had placed him and it was this trust that the ‘holy man’ breached  gravely and callously. Veiled in pious robes, the gullible victims have blindly put their faith on the godliness of the ‘wild beast’ that he ultimately turned out to be. He played the very halo that glittered to pronounce his religious authority  for sex exploiting the very disciples that fawned on the walking-talking ‘godman’. Imagine the trauma the victims have gone through, the physical and mental torture they were subjected to.  They went  on a pilgrimage to seek mental peace and spiritual bliss. They thought living and growing in the holy premises (‘Dera’) under the shadows of the spiritual guru, the intimacy would indeed materialize into a ‘Sacha Soda’ (a truthful contract, a bond of inviolable trust), little knowing far from getting blessed they would be left ruined in mind and body by the very ‘Messenger of God’. Such criminal acts committed by the people heading religious organizations or sects not only wreck the victims, they also ‘create a concavity in social fabric’ (Supreme Court). The image of pious men running religious institutions is bound to get shattered when men in holy robes descend down to  a level devil only can get delighted.

As is now transparently clear, behind the facade of his manifold social activities ,the guru possessed some other copy of his person to  contradict the one people would generally believe in. And the more dangerous one. The ‘all-rounder’ in him would not mind in turning into a rapist, for, he thought, the signboard of his ashram had the power to sink the screams of the hapless victim within the four walls of the torture chamber he would drag her into. But, as the verdict revealed, finally the claws of the law grab the neck of the culprit, provided the prosecution has the will to do so. The grotesque way the powerful guru broke down on hearing the decision of the court and begged with folded hands for forgiveness not only is a proof of his confession of his guilt, it exposes the myth of spirituality the fake gurus claim and the credulous superstitious people rush to freeze in delusion. When the guru of five crore followers and hundreds of disciples could not ward off the punishment for himself how can others put their forelocks in the hands of the man who stands on earthly feet? Aware of the heinous nature of the crime he perpetrated and the lurking fear of the fallout of the leak, he, it is said, managed to murder a journalist that first time divulged the story in 2002. The father of slain journalist was overwhelmed with joy on hearing the verdict. Why not.

Like GRR we have Gulzar Peers in the guise of ‘faith healers’. He too betrayed the trust of the parents, society and the girl students. Let prosecution show no weakness in pursuing the criminal case he is accused of and make him convicted in the court and get him sentenced that will serve a deterrent against potential offenders . The CBI has shown the way.

Tail piece—The multi-faceted ( Gurmeet, Ram, Rahim) Guru  has another case filed against him. He is named in the forced castration of some sadhus of the Dera in 2015.  I cannot reconcile the contradiction! He, perhaps, wanted to take care of his masculinity, deny it to other. No rival in the domain? 

Source: Greater Kashmir, Poster ENB