Ram Rahim's rape was pardon: The guru's gufa and maafi of a sex fiend
Not many knew that, many of the sadhvis have been victims of his sexual violence. Baba Ram Rahim who promoted himself as the benevolent father figure who got sex workers married to his devotees had turned many unsuspecting young women into his private prostitutes.
IndiaToday.in | Posted by Amit Vasudev
New Delhi, August 27, 2017 | UPDATED 14:02 IST
HIGHLIGHTS
- Ram Rahim took in women into his dera as daughters and turned them into sex slaves.
- His victims were people who trusted him with their lives.
- More than 200 women lived in the quarters surrounding Baba Ram Rahim's cave.
It took 15 years since the first rape charge for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to get behind bars. Ram Rahim, who took in women into his dera as daughters turned them into sex slaves. The mirrored windows of his massive private residence hid stories of sexual exploitation, not heard since the Sultanate where emperors would have harems for concubines.
Baba Ram Rahim, known as rockstar do-gooder and the guru who weaned thousands off drug addiction, himself has been a man addicted to power, pelf and non-consensual sex or rape. His victims were people who trusted him with their lives and sought spiritual solace from him. Most were so indebted to his holiness that they wouldn't so much as squeak even if they came to know of what he had done to their loved ones.
On the other hand some were so brainwashed that they believed his excesses were blessings, that they were the chosen ones. But one common thread runs through all this: Baba Ram Rahim was a predator in his own fortified spiritual playground.
WHAT TRANSPIRED IN BABA'S 'GUFA'?
He called his bedroom a cave (gufa), significant because gufas in mountains have long served as spaces for meditation for ascetics. Since Baba Ram Rahim called himself a saint, a cave seemed to be the natural moniker for his private quarters at the sprawling dera (ashram) spread over 700 acres in the town of Sirsa, in Haryana. But this cave will now go down in history as Rape Central.
People close to the dera told us a story that is salacious and intriguing at the same time. More than 200 women lived in the quarters surrounding Baba Ram Rahim's cave. Around 30 of them in white robes and flowing hair. They were invariably new entrants into the circle and were literally groomed for that shocking private encounter that would scar them for life.
The others wore gerua like sadhvis do. The sadhvis or sadhikas flanked him everywhere he went. Especially to his daily sermons from a stage that looked like a film set. The baba, in costumes ranging from plain white to shimmering shiny ones, would be surrounded by the sadhvis.
HE LURED AND TURNED WOMEN INTO HIS PRIVATE PROSTITUTES
Not many knew that, many of the sadhvis have been victims of his sexual violence. Baba Ram Rahim who promoted himself as the benevolent father figure who got sex workers married to his devotees had turned many unsuspecting young women into his private prostitutes.
The investigative agencies identified 24 of them and were able to track down 20 of them since the anonymous letter blew the lid off the sexual exploitation at the dera. They were now married and living regular family lives and didn't want the past to complicate their present.
But from what we know from the testimonies of women who came forward emerges a pattern. The baba will pick a sadhvi (woman disciple), call them inside his cave bedroom and rape them. The act was called maafi in the closed circle of these exploited women. They often joked about who would be next to receive the maafi that the Huzoor Maharaj dispensed.
Maafi means pardon and Baba Ram Rahim had convinced them that saying no to his advances was a sin, since they had surrendered their tan-man (body and mind) to his godliness. That they belonged to him and only after surrendering their body to him can they be purified again. The act of rape had become an act of pardon and most women had resigned to their fate.
Those who resisted received threats of instant death. The man himself kept shiny firearms at an arm's length. They were rightly told that he had enough political muscle to get away with murder. The stories of devotees disappearing were not uncommon. Besides, most of these victims had their families devoted to the guru and in his cross hairs. They gave in lest their families should come in harm's way.
THE LETTER WHICH NAILED RAM RAHIM
The girl on whose complaint this whole thing came to light lost her brother to a bullet. The journalist who first published her anonymous letter was shot at point blank. The girls were there because their families, who were blind bhakts of the baba, had sent them. For most, there was no option but to give in to the guru's whims.
Baba Ram Rahim's cave had a gate that was known to public and through which he drove his fancy cars into the building. The two other gates were used only by his private guards, always women, and the sadhvis or sevikas who attended to him. That included feeding and bathing the hirsute saint. The women's quarters were guarded by men who were either forcibly castrated or volunteered to be neutered. So mind-blowingly harem-like.
An Aaj Tak reporter who had visited Ram Rahim's private residence recalled seeing commando-style security guards, armed to the teeth, inside the building. Since he was provided Z+ Category security by the government, armed special forces from the Black Cat commandos guarded the complex where CCTVs cameras watched every movement of a visitor or a resident.
Then there was a ring of plain-clothed mufti musketeers who were in charge of the outer circle of security. In fact, men with walkie-talkies were all over the dera, informing the security of whatever happened around them. It's a town in itself with its own petrol stations, factories, shops, megakitchens, marketplaces and, of course, private police.
HIS VICTIMS WERE BRAINWASHED
Ram Rahim's sermons were power shows, often attended by celebrities and politicians. Apart from building an aura around him, this also helped silence his critics and victims alike. The latter spoke in hushed tones about his maafis (rapes) and kept to themselves.
This had normalised his sexual offences and would-be victims would accept his excesses as blessings. The older ones would stay on as sadhikas, but most would be married off to male devotees at some point.
In 2002, one of them wouldn't take this lying down. She complained to her brother. The brother escaped from the dera with her. The two tried to approach authorities to file a complaint. That apparently was of no use.
She was a graduate, unlike most others who were hardly educated and belonged to poor families dependent on the dera. She wrote an anonymous letter to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The letter was published by a Sirsa newspaper. Two men on a motorcycle came to the editor's house and shot him. Ramchandra Chhatrapati's son Anshul carried on the battle of these women forward. An FIR was lodged and the CBI was asked to inquire into it.
Fifteen years later, on the testimonies of the victims, a special CBI court in Panchkula, convicted the dera head. Baba Ram Rahim is in jail and on Monday he will know the years he would have to spend in one for raping unsuspecting devotees. The castration and murder cases are next.
