Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim gets 30-day parole

Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district on Thursday after he was granted a 30-day parole. According to his counsels, Singh left the jail for the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram at Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat. Singh—who heads the Sirsa-based sect—had applied for temporary release to avail himself of parole. He is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.
He has been granted 40-day paroles, first in October last year and another in January. On both occasions, Singh had gone to the Barnawa ashram and held several online “satsang” sessions. He had also been granted a month-long parole in June last year and a three-week furlough that began on 7 February 2022. According to the warrant for his temporary release, the Dera chief has been released on a regular 30-day parole on the condition that he reside at the Barnawa ashram throughout the parole duration. Singh will not be able to visit any places not specified in the warrant without obtaining prior permission from the district magistrate (DM). According to the warrant, at the time of his release, Singh is to give the DM concerned full particulars of his place of residence during his temporary release.
He is also required to inform the DM informed of any subsequent changes to his residence. Singh’s activities during this period of time will be closely monitored by the in-charge of the concerned police station who will later submit a report in this regard to the jail superintendent through the deputy commissioner of police or Superintendent of police as early as possible, it said. In 2021, the Dera chief, along with four others, was also convicted of hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a sect manager. Singh and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.