Ram Rahim gets 20-day parole; barred from entering Haryana, taking part in poll activities

The Haryana government has granted a 20-day parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh while barring him from taking part in election-related activities, making speeches and staying in the state during the period.

Singh, who is lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail, is serving a 20-year sentence given 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.

He had sought a 20-day parole ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls. Singh had cited the death anniversary of his father as among the reasons for seeking relief.

The parole has been granted, an official said on Tuesday.

According to the parole conditions, the sect chief will not take part in any election-related activity or deliver public speeches and will stay out of Haryana during the period.

He will stay at Dera ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Barnawa (Baghpat) during the period. The Dera chief had said he wanted to stay in Baghpat during the parole, if granted.

The jails department had forwarded the Dera chief's parole plea to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer in view of the Model Code being in place for the assembly polls.

Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal had said on Monday that the Haryana government may consider Singh's parole subject to the correctness of facts mentioned in his parole plea and satisfying other conditions with respect to the Model Code of Conduct for elections.

In a letter to Haryana Jail Department's additional chief secretary, the state chief electoral officer referred to the September 30 letter by the administration which conveyed the "emergency and compelling reasons" furnished by the convict while seeking the 20-day parole.

The CEO said, "In view of the above mentioned letters, the state government may consider the matter regarding the grant of parole (20 days) to convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh confined in district jail, Rohtak, subject to the correctness of the facts regarding emergency and compelling reasons as mentioned in your letter dated September 30."

The CEO said that the parole will be subject to conditions that he will not visit Haryana, will not make any public speech or indulge in any political activity during this period.

"Further, a strict watch should be kept on the movement of convict and it should be ensured that he does not indulge in any election-related activity. If he is found indulging in any objectionable activity, his parole should be cancelled forthwith," the letter warned.

The state goes to polls on October 5 and results will be out on October 8.

In the past, some of Singh's paroles and furloughs have coincided with polls in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring states. Opposition parties had criticised the grant of relief to Singh.

In August this year, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted three weeks' furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.

The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

On Monday, the late journalist's son Anshul Chhatrapati said that granting parole to the Dera chief during the Haryana assembly elections would be a "violation of democratic values, fair elections and the right to fair voting".

He claimed that after coming out of jail, Singh "can influence the voting by sending messages to his devotees to benefit a particular party".

In the past, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal have questioned "repeated" paroles being given to the Dera chief.

In May, the high court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations in the matter.

A special CBI court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case. Singh had been held guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.