Dera Sacha Sauda chief gets 21-day furlough, 10th in four years

Chandigarh, Aug 13 (IANS) Ahead of the Assembly polls in Haryana, likely slated in October, rape convict and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is undergoing a 20-year sentence for raping two disciples, was granted a 21-day furlough on Tuesday, 10th time in four years.

After the parole, he will be staying in his sect’s Dera in Bagphat in Uttar Pradesh.

The last time Ram Rahim was granted a 50-day parole was in January.

This month the Punjab and Haryana High Court made it clear that any application for temporary release filed by Ram Rahim was required to be decided without any preferential treatment or bias by the competent authority in accordance with the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022.

Ram Rahim in June had moved the high court, seeking directions to grant him a 21-day furlough.

In his plea seeking furlough, he mentioned several welfare activities being carried out by the sect headed by him for which he needed to do a motivational drive.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had filed the petition against the temporary release of Ram Rahim. The apex gurdwara body had also contended that the Dera chief was suffering multiple sentences for committing grave offences such as murder and rape and if released, it will jeopardise the sovereignty and integrity of India and adversely affect public order.

In February, the High Court had asked the Haryana government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission.

In November 2023, he was released from the jail for 21 days. He was granted parole thrice last year. To date, he has been granted parole and furlough for 205 days.

He has been lodged in the Sunaria jail since August 2017 after being convicted of rape and murder cases. He has a large number of followers in Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.

As per the jail manual, a convict is entitled to a 70-day parole in a year.

Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years in jail in August 2017 for raping two women.

A special CBI court in Panchkula in January 2019 also sentenced Ram Rahim and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, 16 years ago.

His conviction on August 25, 2017, led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa, leaving 41 people dead and over 260 injured.