The Crossbill News Desk
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda who is serving a 20-year jail sentence in a sexual assault case, was released from Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak on Tuesday (May 26) after being granted a 30-day parole by the state authorities.
The latest release marks the 16th temporary parole or furlough granted to the self-styled godman since his conviction in 2017.
According to reports, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the jail premises at around 6:34 am with limited visible security deployment during his exit.
Confirming the parole, his advocate Jitendra Khurana told ANI, "He will stay in his Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, during the parole."
His temporary releases in the past have repeatedly sparked political criticism as well as concerns over law and order and the timing of such paroles.
This is the 16th time since his conviction in August 2017 that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has walked out of prison on a temporary release.
This will bring his cumulative days outside prison to 436 days over the past almost nine years. Before the current release for 30 days that begin now, Ram Rahim has spent 406 days out of prison.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s frequent releases are legally facilitated by the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022.
This rule lets eligible convicts apply for up to 70 days of parole and 21 days of furlough per calendar year.
The latest parole comes months after a series of court developments in other criminal cases linked to the Dera chief.
Earlier on March 7, the Punjab and Haryana high court acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati's murder case.
He was accused of orchestrating the killing of Chhatrapati, a Sirsa-based journalist, for openly criticising him in his newspaper.
In 2019, a Special CBI court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the case. Along with Ram Rahim, three others — Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal — were found guilty in the murder case and were awarded life imprisonment. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.
In March this year, a division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana high court delivered the verdict acquitting Ram Rahim.
Earlier, in 2024, the High Court had also acquitted him and four others in the 2002 murder case of former dera official Ranjit Singh.
The Special CBI court in Panchkula had earlier sentenced Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four co-accused to life imprisonment in the case. Ranjit Singh, a resident of Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district, was allegedly murdered on July 10, 2002 while working in his fields. The repeated paroles and legal reliefs granted to the dera chief continue to remain a subject of public and political scrutiny.
The latest release marks the 16th temporary parole or furlough granted to the self-styled godman since his conviction in 2017.
According to reports, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the jail premises at around 6:34 am with limited visible security deployment during his exit.
Confirming the parole, his advocate Jitendra Khurana told ANI, "He will stay in his Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, during the parole."
His temporary releases in the past have repeatedly sparked political criticism as well as concerns over law and order and the timing of such paroles.
This is the 16th time since his conviction in August 2017 that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has walked out of prison on a temporary release.
This will bring his cumulative days outside prison to 436 days over the past almost nine years. Before the current release for 30 days that begin now, Ram Rahim has spent 406 days out of prison.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s frequent releases are legally facilitated by the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022.
This rule lets eligible convicts apply for up to 70 days of parole and 21 days of furlough per calendar year.
The latest parole comes months after a series of court developments in other criminal cases linked to the Dera chief.
Earlier on March 7, the Punjab and Haryana high court acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati's murder case.
He was accused of orchestrating the killing of Chhatrapati, a Sirsa-based journalist, for openly criticising him in his newspaper.
In 2019, a Special CBI court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the case. Along with Ram Rahim, three others — Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal — were found guilty in the murder case and were awarded life imprisonment. The court had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each.
In March this year, a division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana high court delivered the verdict acquitting Ram Rahim.
Earlier, in 2024, the High Court had also acquitted him and four others in the 2002 murder case of former dera official Ranjit Singh.
The Special CBI court in Panchkula had earlier sentenced Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four co-accused to life imprisonment in the case. Ranjit Singh, a resident of Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district, was allegedly murdered on July 10, 2002 while working in his fields. The repeated paroles and legal reliefs granted to the dera chief continue to remain a subject of public and political scrutiny.
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