Ram Rahim gets bail in castration case

In a major relief to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Insan, the Panchkula special CBI court on Friday granted regular bail to him in castration case. However, he could not come out of jail as he is convicted for 20 years in rape case of two sadhavis.

Earlier, his bail application was rejected by the special judicial magistrate of CBI on August 23. Thereafter, the Dera chief had challenged the order and had moved an application before special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh, who accepted his bail plea on Friday.

However, the Dera chief will not come out of jail as he has been awarded 20 years imprisonment for raping two sadhvis in September last year by CBI court.

Recently, the Panchkula CBI court had framed charges under sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 417 (cheating) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC against Gurmeet, who was charged as prime accused by the CBI in its charge sheet. Besides, charges under sections 326 and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC were also framed against the Dera chief and two others — Dr M P Singh alias Mahender Insan and Dr. Pankaj Garg.

On December 23, 2014, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered a CBI probe into charges of forced castration inside the dera after hearing a petition by former follower Hans Raj Chauhan in 2012.

The petitioner had alleged that around 400 male followers, including those from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, were castrated at the Dera chief’s behest. The charge sheet claimed that mass castrations took place at the Dera’s old printing press building in Sirsa and two charity hospitals — Shah Satnamji Speciality Hospital in Sirsa and Shah Satnamji General Hospital at Ram Rahim’s ancestral Gurusar Modia village in Rajasthan.

Case Chronology

July 2012: Ex-Dera follower moves HC seeking probe into forced castration 

Dec 23, 2014: The High Court directs CBI to probe the matter

Jan 7, 2015: CBI books Ram Rahim, Dr. Pankaj Garg and Dr. MP Singh

Feb 1, 2018: CBI files charge sheet, lists Dera chief as prime accused

Aug 3: Panchkula court frames charges against Dera chief, two doctors

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