Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Sikh institutions and contexts Sikh institutions Potomac, Maryland, USA · 1997

Gurdarshan Singh (head granthi, Guru Gobind Singh Foundation): guilty plea for child sexual abuse of a student

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

head granthi (religious leader), Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, Potomac, Maryland, kirtan/religious-music teacher to the victim

Organization

Guru Gobind Singh Foundation (GGSF), Potomac, Maryland

Spiritual nexus

As head granthi of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, Singh held recognized religious authority within the Maryland Sikh community; his role as the victim's religious-music teacher, extended through that authority, gave him the access and the family's trust that made the abuse possible.

  • Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · guilty plea and sentence

    Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland. Gurdarshan Singh pleaded guilty to one count of Sexual Offense in the Fourth Degree under Article 27, section 464(C) of the Maryland Code, arising from the sexual abuse of a girl he taught kirtan/religious music, beginning when she was approximately eleven years old (1989-1991). In August 1997 he was resentenced to 360 days' imprisonment, suspended.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • granthi authority over a devout family
  • trust extended through religious instruction
  • access to a child through religious teaching role

Primary record

Sources

advocacy journalism with court citation case history and court record summary Ramneet Sachdev, 'Gurdarshan Singh and Why It's So Hard to Believe Survivors', Medium (2020).

Documents the 1997 Maryland guilty plea to Sexual Offense in the Fourth Degree under Article 27 section 464(C), the resentencing to 360 days suspended in August 1997, and Singh's continued role at GGSF for over two decades afterward.

community advocacy reporting case summary SikhPA, '#MeTooSikh: Sikh activists take on internal sexual abuse crimes' (2020).

Reports the Gurdarshan Singh case as part of a wider #MeTooSikh reckoning, describing his position as head granthi at GGSF and the community response following renewed disclosure in 2020.

community press reporting case summary Asia Samachar, 'We are not strangers to sexual abuse by kirtanias and granthis' (Oct. 2020).

Sikh-community news outlet coverage discussing the Gurdarshan Singh case among a pattern of abuse by kirtan teachers and granthis, and GGSF's 2020 public acknowledgment.

Related record

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