Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan was born on 15 August 1967 at Modia village, Sri Gurusar in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan, India. He is a controversial Baba, guru, music producer, singer-songwriter, actor, and filmmaker. He has released several music albums and films, which typically revolve around him and his teachings. He is usually credited in his films as actor, director, writer, songwriter, as well as various other roles. His films were negatively received by critics, with many considering them their promotion and criticism of poor quality.
The Indian Express list Ram Rahim as one of the 100 most powerful Indians of 2015.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim". Singh was not one among the three contenders expected to succeed him. Singh became the leader of Dera at the age of 23, on 23 September 1990.
Gurmeet Singh and his wife Harjeet Kaur have two daughters, named Amarpreet and Charanpreet. They also have a son, Jasmeet, who is married to Husanmeet, a daughter of the Indian National Congress leader Harminder Singh Jassi. Singh also adopted his confidante Priyanka Taneja as his daughter, giving her the name Honeypreet in 2009 that has many different stories since Singh is arrested and she is missing from that time. Singh's followers have adopted "Insan" as a surname.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been known for political clout, as his Dera has a large number nearly 75% of followers among Dalits and Other Backward Classes.
.Gurmeet Ram Rahim,s Dera is the only few among the various Deras that openly asks its supporters to vote for particular political parties.The Dera runs 3 hospitals and 13 educational institutes. Singh has organized drives for blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol screening that have been recognized by Guinness World Records. In association with the American Society of Echocardiography, he also organized the world record for "Most Cardiac Echo Tests". On 21 September 2011 in New Delhi, Singh initiated a series of sanitation drives and also pledged his support to the Central Government's campaign. As of 2016, about 30 Mega Cleanliness Campaigns have been conducted in several states of India. On 22 May 2012, Singh laid the foundation of the Shah Satnam Ji Super Speciality Hospital at Sirsa. He established a specialized disaster relief and welfare agency called Shah Satnam Ji Green-S Welfare Force Wing in 2001, especially in the aftermath of the Odisha cyclone and Gujarat earthquake. A CBI reports investigating criminal allegations against him mentioned that Singh's "crusades against drugs, alcohol, and prostitution" have gained him a "larger-than-life" image.He has also spoken out against cattle slaughter in India.
Gurmeet Singh received the Giants International Award for his social work in 2016.
According to the Guinness World Records, he has organized several events that established world records. These include the largest display of oil lamps (150,009), the largest finger painting (3,900 m² (41,979 ft²)), the largest vegetable mosaic (1,858.07 m² (20,000 ft²)) and the most people sanitizing their hands simultaneously.
Controversies of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
Singh has been prosecuted for being involved in enforcing the castration of hundreds of followers; Singh has denied the charges.
Conflict with Sikh groups
In May 2007, Singh was accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs by wearing in an advertisement attire resembling the tenth and final living Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, by using a turban with a kalgi (egret feather). His followers also organized a demonstration against their alleged persecution at the hands of some religious organizations.Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was attacked by a mob on 16 July 2007 but escaped unhurt. The Dera Sacha Sauda tendered multiple apologies, regretting confusion over the dress, and stated that it had high regard for all Sikh Gurus, Sikh religion and all of the humanity. A multi-religion delegation approached the apex Sikh organization to accept the apology. While not rejecting the apology outright, the Akal Takht maintained it was inadequate on several counts.
A criminal case filed against him, for hurting the Sikh sentiments, was dismissed by the Sirsa court in 2009 and Bathinda court in 2014. Counter-terrorism expert Ajai Sahni has stated that the tensions between the Sikh community and the Dera have been exploited by the pro-Khalistan elements. He has further quoted Indian military intelligence that Iknoor Khalsa Fauj, Khalistan Zindabad Force, and Khalistan Commando Force have attempted to eliminate him. In a case where the Dera's followers were accused of being suicide attackers, the Dera has stated publicly that it was being targeted by vested political groups that were conspiring to defame it.The organization has demanded a judicial probe into the allegations.
On 2 February 2008, Singh's cavalcade was attacked, with explosives injuring 11 persons.A Khalistan Liberation Force member was later arrested and confessed to arranging explosives and executing the plan along with his associates. After that, Singh was protected with Z+ security cover.
On 20 June 2008, a group of Sikhs shouted anti-Dera slogans during Singh's visit to the Nirmal Lifestyles mall in Mumbai. The situation developed into an altercation between the protestors and the Dera followers and one of the Sikh protestors was killed. This led to further protests from Sikhs in Mumbai and Punjab.
On 27 September 2015, the Akal Takht accepted his apology and pardoned him, but, on observing widespread resentment and protest among Sikhs regarding his pardon, the organization revoked the pardon on 16 October.
Rape conviction
In 2002, a woman wrote to the respective Chief Ministers of the states of Punjab and Haryana, and to the Union Home Minister, CBI, NHRC and the Punjab and Haryana High Court, describing an incident involving Singh. The Punjab and Haryana High Court sought a report from the District and Sessions Judge of Sirsa, after which Judge MS Sular conducted an inquiry and submitted a report recommending a probe by a central agency.
After the report from Sirsa, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the CBI to probe into the allegations leveled in the letter. The Chandigarh Branch, CBI registered a case of rape under the IPC Section 376, criminal intimidation under Section 506 and insult to the modesty of a woman under 509. This letter was published in Ram Chander Chhatrapati’s four-page Hindi eveninger, Poora Sach in 2002. A CBI probe was ordered into the incident on 24 September 2002. The investigations involved contacting 18 sadhvis who had left the dera by 2002. In the same year, Singh had charges levied against him for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who was writing articles at the time about Dera Sacha Sauda, and for the murder of Dera Sacha Sauda manager Ranjit Singh.
On 25 August 2017, a special CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, delivered its verdict in a sexual assault case regarding a former Dera sadhvi, finding Singh guilty of two counts of rape. Singh was taken into custody.[90] More than 200,000 people had gathered near the court premises ahead of the verdict in Panchkula, Haryana. Following the conviction, there were violent protests in parts of India with reports of widespread vandalism. DSS members were killed in clashes with police and another 120 people were injured as a result.
On 26 August 2017, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the police to seize the properties of the group to compensate for the vandalism caused in protests by his supporters.
On 28 August 2017, the CBI court sentenced him to a total of 20 years in jail, 10 years for each of the two rape convictions to be served consecutively. Currently, he is in Jail and His main supporter Honeypreet is also in Jail after police arrest her.