Rapist baba to be sentenced today; High alert in Rohtak

Chandigarh: Rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh will be given quantum of sentence on Monday at 1430 hours at a special court, to be built inside the District jail in Rohtak, in Haryana.

The sentence will be pronounced by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court judge Jagdeep Singh, in a court being specially set up inside the District Jail premises in Sunaria near Rohtak,70 km from Delhi, where Ram Rahim was brought and lodged after his conviction.

Judge Jagdeep Singh had on Friday held the Dera chief guilty of rape and criminal intimidation of the two female disciples in 2002, will be flown to Rohtak on Monday for announcing the sentence.

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The sect chief has been convicted on two counts for rape (Section 376 IPC), criminal intimidation (Section 506 IPC) and Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).

The minimum punishment for rape is seven years which may extend till life (term). The other sections have imprisonment for one or two years respectively.

The district jail premises, about 10 km from Rohtak town, has been completely cordoned off by security forces, including paramilitary forces and Haryana Police. The Army has been kept on stand-by.

No movement of people, other than those authorized, will be allowed within a distance of 10 km from the prison premises.

"We are fully prepared for any situation. The Army has been kept on stand-by," Haryana Director General of police (DGP) B.S. Sandhu said.

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Rohtak range Inspector General (IG) Navdeep Singh Virk said that 28 companies of paramilitary forces, along with Haryana Police, have been deployed in the city.

Security forces were on high alert again on Monday in Haryana and Punjab as both states braced for the announcement of quantum of punishment to the disgraced sect chief.

Curfew was reimposed in Haryana's Sirsa town, where the sect's headquarters are located, on Sunday. The curfew will continue on Monday.

The sect has lakhs of followers mainly in Punjab and Haryana.