The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed the FIR registered against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, accusing him of outraging religious sentiments during his discourse involving Sant Kabir Das and Guru Ravidas.
A bench of Justice Manjari Nehru Kaul stated “Upon careful scrutiny, this Court finds no evidence of any distortion or misrepresentation in the incident relating to the life of Sant Kabir Das. The narrative does not seem to insult the religious sentiments or beliefs of any specific group, as it is deeply rooted in historical resources.”
Earlier in January, Ram Rahim was granted a 40-day parole. He has been serving a 20-year sentence since 2017 in Haryana’s Sunaria jail for the rape of two women disciples at his ashram’s headquarters in Sirsa. In February, the Dera chief received three weeks’ furlough.
While parole involves the temporary release of a prisoner either for a specific purpose or entirely before the completion of a sentence, based on good behavior, furlough is a brief, temporary release of convicts from jail.
Ram Rahim was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for the rape charges. The CBI initiated the case following orders from the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2003, taking over the investigation from the earlier registration at Police Station Sadar in Kurukshetra.
The case revolved around the murder of former Dera Manager Ranjit Singh, a resident of village Khanpur Kolian, Kurukshetra, on 10 July 2002, while working in his fields.
After an exhaustive investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet in 2007 against six accused, with charges framed in 2008. On 8 October, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with the murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.