High court suspends life sentence of godman Rampal in disciples' death case

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has suspended the life sentence of self-styled godman Rampal, seven years after he was awarded it in a case involving the death of five disciples.

In 2018, the head of Satlok Ashram and some followers were held guilty in two separate cases related to murder, wrongful confinement and criminal conspiracy registered against them at Barwala police station in Hisar district on November 19, 2014.

That day, the police and Rampal's followers had a standoff, in which five people, including four women, were killed.

A division bench comprising Justices Gurvinder Singh Gill and Deepinder Singh Nalwa passed the order after hearing a petition filed by Rampal, seeking suspension of the life term awarded to him by a Hisar court in October 2018 under Sections 343 (wrongful confinement), 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.

"While we find there are specific allegations against the appellant to the effect that he had kept the women and others captive, there are certainly some debatable issues particularly regarding the cause of death being homicidal or not...

"Even the eye-witness, who are relatives of the deceased, have not supported the case of the prosecution and have rather stated that conditions of suffocation were created due to tear gas shells," the bench observed in its order dated September 2, which was uploaded on Thursday.

Noting that Rampal has already undergone 10 years, 8 months and 21 days of actual imprisonment and is aged 74, the court said it finds "it to be a fit case for suspending the sentence of the appellant during pendency of the main appeal." The court directed Rampal not to promote any kind of "mob mentality" and to avoid participating in congregations where there is any kind of tendency amongst "disciples" or participants to cause breach in peace, law and order.

In case of a violation of the bail conditions or if the appellant is found to be indulging in inciting others to commit any offence, "it shall be open to state to take steps for cancellation of the bail," the court said.

Notably, Rampal was arrested after a tense standoff between his supporters and police after around 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling 12-acre Satlok Ashram premises at Barwala in Hisar in 2014.

In November 2014, Rampal had allegedly holed himself up in his ashram and his armed followers had clashed with police and paramilitary personnel.

After being sentenced, he filed a petition before the high court seeking a suspension of his sentence. He has also filed an appeal against his conviction.

Rampal's counsel had submitted before the high court that the five deaths occurred when police lobbed tear gas shells at the ashram, where a large number of his disciples were present. This led to suffocating conditions, which led to a stampede, resulting in several persons falling down and five of them ultimately losing their lives, he argued.

The counsel had submitted that Rampal has been falsely implicated in the case and "as a matter of fact it is a case of natural death, as is borne out from the medical evidence" of the death of all five.

The counsel had also submitted that there is no evidence to show that the appellant was in any way responsible for the deaths.

It had further been submitted that Rampal, who was presently aged about 74 years, has already undergone an actual sentence of more than 10 years and since all of his other 13 co-accused have already been released on bail, he also deserved the same concession on grounds of parity.

The state counsel had submitted that it is a case where the appellant was virtually trying to keep the women and others as hostage and confined them in a room, wherein condition of suffocation developed, which ultimately led to their deaths.