Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on two counts of rape on Monday.  While many news outlets including TV channels initially reported that Singh had been imprisoned for 10 years only, they changed tack after getting the judgment.

Three days before the quantum of sentence was announced, followers of the Dera chief tried to lay waste to Panchkula which housed the CBI special court that held him guilty of the rape of two women disciples. In the melee, TV vans were destroyed and some reporters attacked by the angry mob. Though the Haryana government came in for flak for not containing the violence, especially from the Punjab and Haryana High Court among others, 38 people died in the clashes with state police with the violence threatening to inflame passions in Haryana, Punjab, parts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. But the anger seems to have ebbed.

Newslaundry recaps the five highlights of the judgment of CBI special judge Jagdeep Singh, which the judge read out in the Rohtak jail where the Dera chief is lodged:

Baba Ram Rahim did not spare his own pious disciples and had acted like [a] wild beast, he does not deserve any mercy.

…rape is not merely physical assault, it is destructive of the whole personality of the victim. Both the victims put the convict on the pedestal of God and revered him like that only. However, the convict committed breach of gravest nature by sexually assaulting such gullible and blind followers. Such criminal acts of a particular convict, who is stated to be heading a religious organisation, are bound to shatter images of pious and sacred spiritual, social, cultural and religious institutions existing in this country since times immemorial, which in turn reflects irreparable damages caused by the acts of the convict to the heritage of this ancient land.

(Quoting Mahatma Gandhi) To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immediately man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, isn’t she more self-sacrificing, has she not greater power of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman.

…it is not [an] ordinary case but [the] rarest of rare case which has larger implications for the entire society and accordingly, [the] convict deserves maximum punishment for each count for which he has been convicted. It has been further submitted that convict is [a] very influential figure and must be sentenced appropriately to send a deterring message for potential offenders and also to give message to the society and in case of awarding lesser than maximum punishment, it would shock the collective conscience of the nation.

The convict has stated that he is 50 years old and is suffering from hypertension, auto diabetes and severe backache problem for the last 8 years. But the court observed that undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice dispensation system to undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law. The court must not only keep in view the rights of the victim of crime but also society at large while considering the imposition of appropriate punishment.