SC dismisses plea of Dera Sacha Sauda chief in rape case

The Supreme Court dismissed a plea of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh seeking more handwriting samples of an alleged rape victim in a 14-year-old case, asking whether a woman is available, just because she writes "Babaji, I love you".

A bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan said the tenor and the language of the letter allegedly written by the victim does not show consent at any point.

However, senior advocate Jayant Bhushan, appearing for the religious figure-head, said this letter was a crucial piece of evidence and is inconsistent with the allegation.

He said CFSL Chandigarh has in its report said they needed more handwriting samples to arrive at any conclusion.

"The alleged incident is of 1999 and the letter was written in 2001. FIR was lodged in 2002. More handwriting samples will help in my defence," Bhushan said, adding that the case has been dragging on for over 14 years now.

To this, the bench asked the counsel to read the content of letter and said whether it is rape or not can be proved through the evidence in the trial court.

Bhushan after reading the content said the letter was anonymous and the complaint was lodged on that basis.

The bench then asked, "just because the victim writes 'Babaji I love you', does that mean I am available?"

Justice Misra said this reminded him of French writer Victor Hugo, whose "secretary for 49 years kept writing letters to him about her devotion and submission to him, but he never tried to seduce her."

The court, while dismissing the petition, said it was not inclined to intervene in the matter or say anything on it.

The rape case is currently pending in a CBI special court at Panchkula. The woman who has alleged rape by the spiritual leader was an inmate of Ashram of Dera Sacha Sauda at Sirsa in Haryana.

The plea of Dera Sacha Sauda chief for more handwriting samples of the alleged rape victim was dismissed by the trial court and High Court.