ROHTAK, August 5— Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of rape and murder, walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak on Tuesday morning after being granted a 40-day parole. He immediately headed to the sect’s headquarters in Sirsa under tight security.
This marks his 14th temporary release from prison since 2020. According to Dera spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana, “The parole has been granted as per legal provisions, and Ram Rahim will remain at the Sirsa-headquartered dera during this period.”
Ram Rahim, who turns 58 on August 15, was convicted in 2017 for the rape of two female followers. In 2019, he was also found guilty, along with three others, of the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, a case dating back over 16 years. Despite these convictions, his repeated releases have sparked strong criticism and concerns over the misuse of legal provisions meant for temporary relief.
His paroles and furloughs have frequently drawn flak from civil society groups and families of victims. Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have also voiced opposition to his repeated release, alleging preferential treatment.
With the latest 40-day parole, Ram Rahim has now exhausted his full quota of temporary release for the calendar year—a maximum of 10 weeks of parole and 21 days of furlough allowed under law for convicted prisoners.
In January, he was granted a 30-day parole, just ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly elections. He followed it with a 21-day furlough in April, and now a 40-day parole in August. By the end of this latest release, he will have spent a total of three months out of jail this year alone. Since 2020, he has spent 326 days outside prison.
His temporary releases often coincide with significant electoral or political timelines. For instance, he was granted a 20-day parole on October 1, 2023, just before the October 5 Haryana assembly polls. In February 2022, he was released for three weeks shortly before the Punjab assembly elections.
While he mostly stayed at the dera’s Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district during earlier paroles, he will remain in Sirsa during this one, officials confirmed.
In May last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Ram Rahim and four others in the 2002 murder of Ranjit Singh, a former dera manager. The court cited “tainted and sketchy investigation” in overturning the life sentences handed down earlier by a special CBI court, which had held the Dera head guilty of criminal conspiracy.
Dera Sacha Sauda retains a large and active following in parts of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and western Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kurukshetra, and Kaithal districts.
Despite his convictions, Ram Rahim’s continued influence and repeated parole grants continue to stir debate over the interplay between law, politics, and religious organisations in the region.
