Police has arrested a senior employee of Delhi's Rakab Ganj Gurdwara, who is said to be close to an office bearer of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, for allegedly raping a 40-year-old woman on the pretext of providing her a job in the media.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) president and former DSGMC chief Paramjit Singh Sarna on Saturday termed the alleged rape an example of the revival of "Mahant control" over Sikh religious institutions. He has demanded action against the accused, Bhupinder Singh, and his "boss" -- DSGMC advisor Kulmohan Singh as well as DSGMC's president Manjit Singh G.K.
Bhupinder Singh was arrested by Delhi Police on August 29.
He was presented before a magistrate here on August 30 and remanded to judicial custody till September 13.
The complainant has demanded "strict action" against Singh, a close associate of the woman told IANS.
According to the complainant, Singh is an employee at the Rakab Ganj Sahib Gurdwara and had taken Rs 2-3 lakh from the complainant on the pretext of providing her a job.
The woman told police that she knows Singh for the past two years.
Singh did not return the amount or provide her a job, she alleged.
On August 28, Singh messaged the woman and called her to an office in Bharat Nagar, Paharganj, the woman said in her complaint.
When she went there, Singh told her that he has fixed up a job for her and she can start work from the next day.
Then he took her to his friend's room located near the office.
"At around 1 p.m. he took me to the bedroom of his friend's house and started molesting me. When I opposed, Singh told me that my job will be finalised only when I establish a physical relationship with him. Then he raped me," the first information report stated.
She lodged a First Information Report against the accused in the Paharganj police station in central Delhi.
The woman's statement was recorded before a magistrate on Wednesday.
According to sources, she has stood by her allegation against Singh.
"The act of Bhupinder Singh, an associate of DSGMC's advisor Kulmohan Singh, has tarnished the image of the Gurdwara. Strong action must taken against him," Sarna told IANS.
Sarna said the sexual exploitation by an aide of Kulmohan Singh is "the revival of the dark phase of Mahant control over Sikh religious institutions".
"First we saw how premier Sikh institutions closed down, one after the other because of deeply entrenched corruption, inefficiency and conspiracy," Sarna said.
"Now we are seeing perverts with the DSGMC sexually exploiting females. This shows our religious structure has once again come under the total stranglehold of Mahants."
He accused supporters of Punjab's ruling Badal family of "abusing religion" for their own ends, and said: "Sexual exploitation in religious orders has historically been fatal to faith. What has happened in the DSGMC cannot be downplayed as a stray incident of sexual exploitation by a random employee."
He demanded the resignation of DSGMC's president Manjit Singh G.K. and Kulmohan Singh, alleging that they can influence the probe.
(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted at amiya.k@ians.in)
--IANS
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