Girl staying at Sirsa Dera missing after chief’s conviction, claims family

Chandigarh, September 2 : The family of a girl, who was living in the Dera Sacha Sauda complex in Sirsa, has claimed that she has been missing after the rape conviction of the sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
The family from Haryana’s Tiwala claimed that they had not been in touch with Shraddha since 2008.Her cousin, Parminder Singh, said the last time they got information about her was from a Dera-run magazine which described her as a yoga practitioner.
The family along with other villagers is making frantic efforts to trace her in Sirsa.
“The caretaker of Sahe Baitiyan Baseera’s (home for minor girls), Poonam, said that she had left the Dera after the sect’s head was convicted,” Singh said, adding that he tried to get in touch with other officials of the Dera. A special CBI court on August 28 had sentenced Ram Rahim to 20 years in prison for raping two of his female disciples. “Shradhha was left in the Dera to pursue her education long time back. In 2008, we tried to meet her, but we were not allowed by the Dera functionaries,” he alleged.