Gurmeet Ram Rahim Granted 40-Day Parole Again, Set for 15th Release Since 2017

Rohtak: Gurmeet Ram Rahim, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda and currently lodged in Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak, has once again been granted a 40-day parole. Ram Rahim is serving sentences for the rape of two female followers and the murders of a journalist and a Dera manager.

This latest parole adds to a long list of temporary releases since his conviction. He was earlier granted a 40-day parole in August last year, followed by a 30-day parole in January, a 21-day furlough in April, and several other releases, including around the time of the Delhi Assembly elections. With the current parole, Ram Rahim will step out of jail for the 15th time since 2017.

During most of his earlier paroles and furloughs, including the 21-day and 40-day releases, Ram Rahim stayed at the Dera Sacha Sauda ashram. This time as well, he is expected to reside at the Sirsa Dera after his release.

A CBI court had sentenced Ram Rahim to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in each of the two rape cases involving his female followers, amounting to a total of 20 years. He was later convicted and sentenced in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, as well as in the killing of Dera manager Ranjit Singh.

In 2019, Ram Rahim and three others were convicted for the murder of journalist Chhatrapati, a crime that took place more than 16 years earlier. Since his conviction in 2017, he has been released from prison on 14 occasions prior to the current parole. On most of those occasions, he stayed at the Dera’s ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Bagpat district.

Dera Sacha Sauda, headquartered in Sirsa, commands a substantial following across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and several other states. In Haryana, the organisation wields significant influence in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.

The repeated granting of parole to Ram Rahim has drawn criticism from various quarters, with several political parties questioning the Haryana government’s decision. Journalist Chhatrapati’s son, Anshul, has also objected strongly, stating that Ram Rahim is “not an ordinary prisoner but a hardened criminal” and questioning the rationale behind his repeated release.

The Haryana government, however, has defended its decision before the High Court, submitting an affidavit stating that Ram Rahim does not fall under the category of a hardened criminal and is considered a prisoner with good conduct. As per jail rules, prisoners with good conduct are eligible for parole or furlough. The government has cited provisions allowing up to 90 days of parole in a year to justify the repeated paroles granted to him.

With inputs from IANS