Even though a Special CBI Court convicted the godman 15 years later, the Punjab and Haryana High Court overturned that conviction.

In the same year as Chhatrapati’s killing, Ram Rahim was charged with the murder of Ranjit Singh, one of the brothers of the rape survivors. He was acquitted.

He is also charged with the castration of around 400 followers, claiming it would bring them “closer to God”. The FIR was lodged in 2015, naming him and two doctors who helped him. CBI is investigating the case.

In July this year, the CBI informed a special court that it had been unable to trace one of the alleged victims, who is a prosecution witness in the case, hampering its efforts to secure his appearance in the trial against Ram Rahim Singh and the two doctors.

A whitewash affair, India’s leading newspapers

Along with The Hindu Delhi unit, Hindi newspaper Dainik Bhaskar also carried the questionable ad. It completely whitewashes the murderous reality of Ram Rahim and paints him as a messiah.

“Was there a conspiracy against Guru Ji?” reads the content, before answering, “Yes, absolutely.” It claims that false witnesses were “lured by the greed of money” to frame him.

Ram Rahim is currently out on a 21-day furlough. Questions have been repeatedly raised about his furloughs and paroles, but the judiciary fails to provide clarity.

The advertisement asks whether his 16 paroles amount to VIP treatment, to which it responds: “No, not at all.” It further states that his parole and furloughs “have been upheld by the Hon’ble Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Supreme Court”.

“7.5 crore people freed from addiction,” “35.40 crore trees planted,” “33.85 lakh units of blood donated,” “22 Guinness World Records”- the more you read, the glossier he emerges. These are the organisation’s own figures, presented as fact, with no attribution or corroboration. 

All this without any proof or fact.

Why? The Hindu gets bashed

Many, including Asian College of Journalism (ACJ) alumni, have lambasted former editor-in-chief N Ram and Director of The Hindu Group, Malini Parthasarathy, questioning their decision to give prominent advertising space to an organisation led by a convicted rapist.

“I am an alumnus of ACJ, where you serve as a trustee and have spoken at length about ethics in journalism. You are also the director of The Hindu group. I would like to hear from you why The Hindu carried an advertisement by a convicted rapist,” vented out senior reporter Piyush Rai.

Nilanjana Roy, author and columnist at Financial Times magazine, also condemned the advertisement.

This is@the_hindu, allowing a convicted rapist to blame victims in its pages. Why was this ad cleared? @nramind

The rehabilitation of rapists is everyone’s favourite pastime. Across the media, across the supposedly liberal world, among editors, filmmakers, lawyers, artists, and writers: victims and survivors are blamed, harassed, or ignored.

“This is VERY disappointing…coming from the venerable @the_hindu /Lure of lucre? Trust there will be some deep navel-gazing within the sanctum in Kasturi building @nramind @MaliniP,” said Uday Krishna.