In his plea for a 21-day furlough, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has asked for directives to review and decide on his furlough application under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (Temporary Release) Act 2022.
Punjab, Haryana: On 14th June: Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda and a convicted rapist, has petitioned the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a 21-day furlough. Previously, in February, the court had instructed the Haryana government not to grant further parole to him without its approval.
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The High Court was then considering a petition from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee challenging the temporary release of the Dera Sacha Sauda leader.
In his plea for a 21-day furlough, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has asked for directives to review and decide on his furlough application under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (Temporary Release) Act 2022. He mentioned that despite having applied for furlough, his request has not been considered due to a stay order issued on February 29.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting two of his followers and is held at Sunaria jail in Rohtak district.
Earlier, he had been granted a 50-day parole starting January 19.
In his recent application for furlough, Singh cited various social welfare activities conducted by his sect, which he asserts require his motivational involvement.
In January 2023, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) filed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the frequent paroles granted to Ram Rahim by the Haryana government. In February, the high court instructed the Haryana government to seek its permission before granting any further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
The high court, while hearing SGPC’s petition challenging Ram Rahim’s temporary release, acquitted him and four others on May 28 in the 2002 murder of former dera manager Ranjit Singh. Despite this acquittal, Ram Rahim remains in prison due to convictions in other cases.
Ram Rahim was convicted in 2021 by a special CBI court in Panchkula and sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiring to murder his former follower, who was killed by four assailants on July 10, 2002, in Khanpur Kolian village, Kurukshetra district, Haryana.
Although acquitted in the Ranjit Singh case, Ram Rahim remains incarcerated for two rape convictions and another murder conviction. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for two rapes in 2017, life imprisonment for the murder of a journalist in 2019, and another life term for a criminal conspiracy in the murder of a dera follower in 2021.
As recorded in the high court, Ram Rahim, who began his prison term on August 25, 2017, was granted temporary release from prison for the ninth time on January 19, 2023, for 50 days. He is currently held in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district.
He is serving two consecutive 10-year sentences for the 2002 rapes of two female disciples at the Dera premises in Sirsa, awarded in 2017. His two life terms for murder will commence after completing the 20-year rape sentence.
