Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s counsel on Monday told the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the Dera chief had renounced the world and was not in a position to pay ₹30 lakh fine imposed on him following his conviction on two counts of rape of two followers.
A Division Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Sudhir Mittal, while admitting the appeal filed by Ram Rahim, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence, challenging his conviction by the special CBI court, issued notice to the CBI.
Separately, the High Court also admitted the appeal of the two victims who had sought life imprisonment for Ram Rahim in the same case.
Ram Rahim’s lawyer S.K. Garg Narvana pleaded before the court that in the wake of all the Dera property having been attached, his client was not in a position to pay the fine to the rape survivors.
“The Dera head has renounced the world,” he told the court.
The court, however, directed Ram Rahim to deposit the compensation amount within two months in a bank. It would be kept there and paid only after the court’s direction.
“Our appeal challenging the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been admitted. The court has asked us to deposit the fine with a bank within two months. Also we will get the money back with interest if the decision after appeal favours us,” his lawyer added.
Besides other grounds, the court’s order was challenged on the delay of more than six years in recording the statements of the victims by the CBI.
The two rape victims moved the High Court on October 4 asking for an increase in the sentence to life imprisonment, their lawyer Navkiran Singh told reporters.
