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The love-charging, multitasking, messenger-of-God-cum-Dera-Sacha-Sauda-chief-cum-rapist may have been jailed for good but his clan and cult remain. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan (there may be more suffixes and prefixes there) has been sentenced to 20 years in prison - 10 years for each of the two rape cases - by the CBI court that pronounced him guilty.
The rape case was registered against the dera chief in 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the alleged sexual exploitation of two "sadhvis" by Ram Rahim. That’s not all though. The dera chief is accused of murdering Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in October 2002, who had reported the criminal charges against him.
But now that the dera chief is behind bars, media’s attention has turned to Honeypreet Insan.
But who is Honeypreet?
Honeypreet Insan, who was born Priyanka Taneja, is the thirty-something (though some reports claim she is over 40) adopted daughter of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. While the dera chief has three biological children – two daughters, Amanpreet and Charanpreet and a son, Jasmeet Insan –
he adopted Honeypreet Insan in 2009.
Priyanka Taneja’s sudden transformation into Honeypreet took place after
she married Vishwas Gupta, a dera follower from Sirsa, in 1999. According to dera insiders, as
reported by
Hindustan Times,
Honeypreet complained to Gurmeet Ram Rahim about dowry demands from her in-laws. It was shortly after that the dera chief adopted her as his daughter in 2009.
While that technically turned Gupta into the dera chief’s son-in-law, the two soon fell out.
In fact,
in 2011, Gupta approached the Punjab and Haryana high court to seek the custody of his wife from the dera chief. Gupta moved the court accusing Gurmeet Ram Rahim of having illicit relations with his wife (the dera chief’s adopted daughter) and sought judicial custody of his wife from Ram Rahim.
According to Gupta, both Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Honeypreet started living and spending quality time together. She became a close aide of the dera chief and both were spotted together on many occasions.
Gupta, however, took the case back and the couple separated after reaching an out-of-court settlement.
"I was staying at the goofa (cave) – the private room of Baba ji. My wife was with him. He had inadvertently left the door open. They were nude and were having sex. They were shocked after they saw me. Baba had threatened me with dire consequences. He had threatened me not to reveal anything and had said that I will be killed," said Gupta.
"Honeypreet was adopted by Baba as he had bad intentions. He sexually exploited her as she was beautiful," he added.
Adopted child to Papa’s Angel to possibly, the next dera chief
Insan Jr describes herself as “PAPA's ANGEL, Philanthropist, Director, Editor, Actress!! Passionate to transform my Rockstar Papa's directions into actions!” on her Facebook page – which incidentally has more than 5,00,000 followers (She’s also massively popular on Twitter, where she has a million followers and Instagram).
Honeypreet quickly moved up the ranks inside the dera as Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s favourite. She started taking important dera decisions and later even dabbled in film direction and acting.
She also directed MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart. In fact, Honeypreet Insan is possibly her father’s most active collaborator in his films, with several credits naming her. Like father, like daughter? One hopes not.
Honeypreet’s existence on social media seems is only for promoting her father, Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Photos, tweets, Instagram updates and videos — almost all of her updates are, in one way or the other, in praise of the rapist godman. But does Honeypreet only make cringeworthy movies for her father? No.
Honeypreet may well succeed the rapist godman.
While Jasmeet, Ram Rahim's biological son, a businessman, was reportedly declared his father's heir in 2007, dera rules bar him – as Ram Rahim's blood relative – from taking charge of the sect.
Honeypreet already commands a lot of importance in the dera and is followed by a large management where individual managers look after different aspects of administration such as security, finance, land, et al.
But she’s not the only one speculated to be Ram Rahim's successor. Vipassana Insan, the chairperson of Dera Sacha Sauda, is also widely seen as one of the candidates to succeed Gurmeet Ram Rahim as the leader of the dera. Vipassana came into limelight on August 26, when she issued a video appeal to dera followers to maintain peace.
According to a report in
The Quint, she has been involved in various welfare activities of the dera such as health camps, distribution of food and clothes to the needy, and blood donation camps for army personnel. She also heads a group of 250 dera members, among which there are 150 women.
Vipassana and Honeypreet, both call themselves "Guru Brahmachari".
Media attention
Honeypreet made news most recently when she accompanied Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan in a chopper when he was taken to Rohtak jail from Panchkula.
According to the jail manual, no woman can stay with a male prisoner but the jail authorities, in contravention to the guidelines laid down in the jail manual, had allowed Honeypreet to stay with the Dera chief in the guest house. Both were in the guest house for nearly two hours.
Sources told
India Today that the Dera chief created a ruckus when the jail authorities asked him to shift to a lockup. He even threatened to get the jail officials suspended and tried to call the chief minister and a Union minister.
The trip to the jail brought Honeypreet into the media spotlight. Suddenly, the details of her alleged relationship with Gurmeet Ram Rahim and her divorce with Vishwas Gupta came back in the news.
The media is often cruel to those who exist in the periphery of wrongdoers. A classic example of this is how the US media, for the most part, treats US president Donald Trump's wife Melania Trump. Even Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter has been on the receiving end of a barrage of hostile articles.
Often, it is just association that acts as a catalyst for hostility.
Necessary coverage or sensationalising irrelevant old stories, there are two things worth considering here. One, there is the possibility that Honeypreet will succeed her father as the dera chief. Two, if that does indeed happen; will it be good for the dera and millions of a rapist godman's followers?
A woman leading the Dera may work towards restoring the faith of detracting followers, or at least those who are in a dilemma right now. But there is also the possibility that Honeypreet, having had immense control over the dera, was already aware of the sexual abuse going on inside the sect.
A survivor's anonymous
story of how the Dera chief raped women at gunpoint.
Digging up stories about her alleged illicit relationship with Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh may not do anyone much good, but it clear that this is not the last of Honeypreet we have heard of.
This baba's world is getting more and more twisted.
