HC suspends Satlok Ashram preacher Rampal’s sentence after 10 years in jail

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court has suspended the sentence of controversial preacher of Satlok Ashram Barwala, Rampal, who has been behind bars for more than 10 years after being convicted of the murder of a female follower inside the ashram in 2014.A division bench comprising Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Deepinder Singh Nalwa passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Rampal for suspension of the life term awarded to him in Oct 2018 by a Hisar court under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 343 (wrongful confinement), and 120B (criminal conspiracy).HC observed that while there are specific allegations that the applicant kept women captive, there are certainly some ‘debatable issues', particularly regarding the medical evidence, which was brought on record."Additionally, we find that the applicant / appellant, as of today, is aged about 74 years and has undergone the substantive period of sentence, i.e., 10 years and 27 days. Given the fact that the husband as well as the mother-in-law of the deceased have not supported the case of the prosecution, we find it to be a fit case for suspending the sentence of the applicant / appellant during the pendency of the main appeal. The instant application, as such, is allowed, and it is ordered that the remaining sentence of imprisonment of the applicant / appellant shall remain suspended during the pendency of the appeal," the division bench of Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill and Justice Deepinder Singh held in its order on Saturday.

The controversial preacher may thus walk free soon, if he is not wanted in any other case.Rampal's petition submitted that he was falsely implicated and that a board of doctors had said the woman died of pneumonia. Her husband and mother-in-law had admitted that she was suffering from pneumonia for around a month prior to the incident, it said. The petition points out that Rampal is 74 years old and has already been in jail for 10 years and 27 days.

Since 13 of the co-accused have already been released on bail, he also deserves the same concession on grounds of parity, it argues.Opposing the plea, state govt submitted that the deceased and a number of other women were held captive in the ashram of the applicant, where they were not even given food and sufficient accommodation, and it was on account of suffocation that she lost her life.After hearing all the parties, HC ordered Rampal's sentence suspended till the pendency of his appeal.Rampal and some dera functionaries were booked in Nov 2014 after they stubbornly challenged the directions of high court, which had asked them to appear in relation to a case of contempt of court.As many as 5,375 personnel from state and central forces were deployed by the state govt to arrest Rampal and his aides. A 10-day-long operation – at a cost of Rs 26 crore – resulted in his arrest on Nov 19, 2014. On Oct 11, 2018, a Hisar court awarded life imprisonment to Rampal and some key aides.