Girl living in the Dera centre missing; family alleges sect not helping find her

Family members of a missing girl, who was studying at a school and living in the Dera Sacha Sauda complex in Sirsa, are struggling to find her with no help from the controversial sect.

The last time we got information about Shraddha was from a Dera-run magazine, which described her as a yoga player, claimed the girl’s cousin Parminder Singh, who along with his co-villagers from Haryana’s Tiwala are making frantic efforts to trace her in Sirsa.

“The Sahe Baitiyan Baseera’s (home for minor girls) caretaker, Poonam, said that she had left the Dera after the sect’s head (Gurmeet Ram Rahim) was convicted,” Singh said, adding that he tried to get in touch with other officials of the Sacha Sauda.

Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping two of his female disciples by a special CBI court on August 28.

“Shradhha was left in the Dera to pursue her education long time back. In 2008, we tried to meet her, but we were not allowed by the Dera functionaries,” he said.

“I have tried to contact the officials of the Dera on their mobile numbers, but the entire exercise was futile,” he said, adding, since, the area around the sect’s headquarter …read more