Chandigarh, Haryana (February 17, 2013): It is learnt that the rape trial against Dera Sauda Sirsa chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh began on February 16, 2013 as the Punjab and Haryana high court dismissed the application of the victim against calling her to the CBI special court, Haryana, for giving specimen signatures and handwriting.
“The victim’s father had moved the high court against the directions to the victim to give her specimen signatures and handwriting on April 17, 2010, by the CBI special court, Haryana, on an application of Ram Rahim, which he submitted should have been moved at the time of leading his defence evidence” Hindustan Times (HT) has reported.
As per information the petitioner had further argued that at this stage of trial, Ram Rahim’s application was not maintainable as the prosecution evidence was still going on.
According to HT: “During the victim’s cross-examination, the accused through his counsel had shown her a love letter that was an important defence for Ram Rahim. She denied that she had ever written that. In these circumstances, Ram Rahim moved an application for directing the victim to give her specimen handwriting and signatures to enable him to establish his plea that the letter in question had been written/signed by her”.
“While allowing the application, the CBI special judge had ordered in 2010 that neither the CBI nor the accused “has produced on record any other document before this court with which the court may compare the disputed documents and may ascertain whether the disputed document was scribed” by the victim or not”.
It is learnt that when the matter reached the high court, SK Garg Narwana, counsel for Ram Rahim, submitted that this was the only stage where such an application could be moved for taking handwriting and signature samples.
According to information on February 13, 2013 Justice Sabina of Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed the appeal of the victim’s father.
On Saturday, the victim could not appear before the court as the doctor had advised her rest.
“There was a letter written to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee about sexual exploitation of a woman at Dera Sacha Sauda. Soon after that Ranjit Singh, a dera follower, was murdered as he was held responsible for circulating it. Meanwhile, Ram Chander Chhatrapati was also murdered. After that Haryana Police investigated it but the CBI was handed over the cases on the instructions of the Punjab and Haryana high court,” HPS Verma, counsel for the CBI, reported said.
It is notable that Dera Sauda Sirsa (DSS) is a Sirsa based sect whose chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is facing multiple cases involving charges of sexual harassment, rape and murder.