Dera Sacha Sauda chief walks out of jail on 20-day parole

Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Wednesday, 2 October, walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after he was granted a 20-day parole.

During his temporary release period, Singh will stay at the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.

He came out of jail under tight security this morning after his release on parole, an official said.

The Haryana government has granted a 20-day parole to Singh while barring him from taking part in election-related activities, making speeches and staying in the state during the period.

Singh is serving a 20-year sentence given in 2017 for raping two of his disciples. The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.

He had sought a 20-day parole which came days ahead of the 5 October Haryana Assembly polls.

Singh had said that he wanted to stay in Baghpat during the parole if granted.

The jail department had recently forwarded the Dera chief's parole plea to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer in view of the Model Code being in place for the assembly polls.

Chief electoral officer Pankaj Agarwal had said on Monday that the Haryana government might consider Singh's parole subject to the correctness of facts mentioned in his plea and satisfying other conditions with respect to the Model Code of Conduct for the elections.

In the past, the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have questioned "repeated" paroles granted to the Dera chief, saying "justice" was denied to 'Bandi Singhs' (Sikh prisoners), who they claim were in jails even after completion of their sentences.

Meanwhile, SAD leader Parambans Singh Romana on Wednesday said "by frequently giving parole to Ram Rahim, the BJP is repeatedly making it clear that it has scant regard for Sikh sentiments".

"I have said earlier too that by giving extraordinary relief to people like Ram Rahim and letting Sikh prisoners languish in jail even after them having served their sentences twice over and denying them even basic human rights, the BJP is rubbing salt into our wounds," Romana posted on X.

"They take decisions like these and yet hope to make inroads into the Sikh and rural populace," he said.

"We condemn this in the strongest of terms and I urge Sikh leaders in the BJP and Punjab BJP leaders to raise their voice against this decision," he said.

In the past, some of Singh's paroles and furloughs have coincided with the polls in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring states such as Rajasthan.

The opposition parties had criticised the grant of relief to Singh.

Haryana goes to polls on October 5 and the results will be declared on October 8.

Earlier in August 2024, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted three weeks' parole from 7 February 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.

On another occasion, he had got a month-long parole which came at a time when polls were due for several local bodies in Haryana including municipal council and municipal committees.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana, the Dera has a sizeable number of followers in many districts including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.

Two years ago, the Dera chief also remained in limelight for holding online 'satsangs' (religious congregations) from the sect's Barnawa ashram when he had gone there after being released for a 40-day parole in October. Some of his 'satsangs' were also attended by a few BJP leaders from Haryana.

In May, the high court acquitted the Dera chief and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations in the matter.

A special CBI court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case. Singh had been held guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.