Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim granted 40-day parole

Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of Sunaria prison in Haryana's Rohtak on Tuesday after being granted a 40-day parole. Singh will stay at his Sirsa-headquartered Dera during his parole, said Dera spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana. After reaching Sirsa, Singh appealed to his followers in a video message to not turn up at the Dera and adhere to the instructions of the sect elders. Singh, who will turn 58 on August 15, was convicted in 2017 for raping two of his disciples. The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago. By the time Singh returns to jail at the end of his parole, he would have been out of prison for three months this year. He was granted a 21-day furlough in April and a 30-day parole in January, ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly polls. He was granted a 20-day parole on October 1 last year, days before the October 5 Haryana assembly polls. In August last year, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted a three-week furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab assembly polls. Sikh organisations, like the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), have in the past criticised the grant of relief to Singh.

On Tuesday, too, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said the government was releasing the Dera chief on paroles and furloughs whereas 'Bandi Singhs' (Sikh prisoners) continue to be lodged in jails. According to Sikh bodies, 'Bandi Singhs' are those Sikh prisoners who remain in jails even after the completion of their sentences. Dera spokesperson Khurana said parole or furlough has been granted to Singh within the ambit of law by the authorities concerned. "Even the fresh parole has been granted within that ambit. In the past too, these have been granted within those parameters and no special parole has been given," Khurana said. Prior to Tuesday's parole, Singh has come out of prison 13 times since he was convicted in 2017. On most of these occasions, he has stayed at the Dera's ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat. In May last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations into the matter. Earlier, a special CBI court sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case. It held Singh guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused. The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana, the Dera has a sizable number of followers in many districts, including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.