Inadequate sentence will undermine public confidence: CBI Judge

The CBI Special Judge while sentencing Dera chief to 20-years rigorous imprisonment on Monday not only cited Gandhi in his order but also reasoned how the punishment awarded was for the protection of the ‘legitimate response of the collective conscious’.

CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh in his order said, “Undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentence will do more harm to the justice dispensation system and will undermine the public confidence.” The court must not only keep the rights of the victim in mind but also the society at large while considering an appropriate punishment, he said.

The Judge observed that the acts of the convict are bound to shatter the pious image of social religious institutions. The Judge held that the victims put him (Dera chief) on the pedestal of God’ and revered him like that. But the breach of this gravest nature by exploiting such gullible and blind followers is bound to shatter the image of pious social cultural religious institutions that have been existing in the country since times immemorial. This, he said, in turn, reflects irreparable damage caused to the heritage of the ancient land.

The order said the punishment has to be for the protection of the society and the legitimate response of the collective conscious. In his 9-page order on the quantum of punishment to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Judge elaborately quoted Mahatma Gandhi saying, “To consider woman weaker sex is libel. It is man’s injustice to women. If by strength is meant brute strength, then indeed women are less brute than men. If by strength is meant moral power, then women are superior to men. Has she not greater intuition. Is she of more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage. If violent is the law of being, the future is with women. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than women”?