Behind bars, Gurmeet Ram Rahim is a broken man

Initially, he would break down often and was given to bouts of crying but has now accepted his circumstances and is learning to make peace with reality, sources said.

For a man accustomed to an opulent lifestyle and public adulation, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s life in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail has left him shattered and broken.

Initially, he would break down often and was given to bouts of crying but has now accepted his circumstances and is learning to make peace with reality, sources said. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two sadhvis (woman disciples) on August 25, 2017.

“Earlier, he bought food from the canteen but has now started having the jail food,” the sources said, requesting anonymity.

“The baba (as he is popularly known) is lodged in one of the suraksha chakkis (security cells) in the jail, isolated from other barracks. He has two nambardars (old prisoners) for company. He was assigned the job of gardening but there’s hardly anything to do in the small patch where he is allowed to come out,” the sources said.

The jail staff videograph the food from the kitchen till it reaches him daily, they said.

“He spends his time reading spiritual books. He has lost some weight, not too noticeable, but anyone would if their lifestyle is changed so drastically. Occasionally, he complains of backache. He knows he won’t be taken to hospital for it. He cries at times. He cried a lot when he read about the framing of charges against him in the castration case,” the sources said.

Ram Rahim’s family visits him in jail every Monday after 1pm. His lawyer visits him on Monday and Thursday. Ever since he has been lodged here, the jail has become a high-security zone with dozens of policemen and a few Rapid Action Force personnel surrounding it from all sides. Vehicles of visitors are stopped 300 metres from the entrance, where a parking lot has been made in an acre, but Ram Rahim’s family is allowed an extra 100 metres in their car.

He is escorted by guards when he moves within the jail.

His son Jasmeet and daughter-in-law Husanmeet met him this Monday. They were escorted by two cars of dera supporters. An aide accompanying them said Ram Rahim was “fit and fine”.