Rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of Dera Sacha Sauda, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Rohtak prison for rapeand murder charge is set to be out from prison for 21 days.
This marks his eighth break in the past 21 months, having previously been granted parole twice.
Earlier, in January, the Dera Chief Ram Rahim was granted 40 days of parole. In October last year, too, he was granted a 40-day parole. However, this time he is going to be out on a furlough.
On August 28, 2017, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the rape of two sadhvis. Subsequently, in connection with the murder of journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati, the court imposed a life sentence on Gurmeet Ram Rahim on January 17, 2019.
Ram Rahim was granted parole for the first time in the year 2020. On October 24, 2020, he was given a one-day parole, and the details of this parole were so secretive that only 4 people in the entire state of Haryana were informed about it. It was the first time he was taken out of jail under tight security, allowed to do so to meet his ailing mother during this parole. The second parole was granted to him approximately seven months after the first parole. This time, he was out of jail for two days. Again, he visited Gurugram to meet his mother, staying at a farmhouse in Manesar during this period. He came out of Sunaria Jail around 6:30 AM during this parole.
On February 7, 2022, he was granted parole for the third time in 2022, extending beyond the previous durations. Ram Rahim was out on a 21-day parole, citing the reason that he needed to arrange the marriage of his adopted daughters. This was the basis for his release from jail during this parole.
In June 2022, he was granted parole for the fourth time, approximately three months after being granted parole for the third time in connection with charges of sexual assault and murder.
In October 2022, Dera chief Ram Rahim was granted a 40-day parole. After being released, he reached the Barnawa Ashram in Bagpat.
On January 21, 2023, he was released from jail for the sixth time, receiving a 40-day parole from the Haryana government to attend Shah Satnam’s Jayanti.
Ram Rahim received another 30-day parole in July 2023, marking his seventh release from jail in two and a half years.
While parole means the release of a prisoner either temporarily for a special purpose or completely before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour, a furlough is a short-term temporary release of convicts from jail. During this break, the controversial leader, who is lodged at Haryana’s Sunaria jail, will be staying at an ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat.
Following a controversy over the 40-day parole being given to Ram Rahim in January, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that getting parole after following all procedures was the Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s right. It was during the same parole period that Ram Rahim was seen “celebrating” by cutting a cake with a sword.
While out on parole on earlier occasions, the Sirsa-headquartered sect’s chief had held several online “satsang” sessions.