Out of jail on furlough, Ram Rahim heads to U.P. ashram, addresses followers

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, released from Rohtak's Sunaria jail on 21-day furlough. Appealed to followers not to turn up at ashram. Release coincides with Assembly polls in Rajasthan. Had been granted parole 8 times in 4 yrs, incl. 40 days in Jan, 30 days in July, 1 day in Oct & 12 hrs in May. Sentenced to life imprisonment for murder of Dera manager in Oct 2021 & 20 yrs for rape in 2017.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda and a rape convict, on Tuesday walked out of Rohtak’s Sunaria jail on a 21-day furlough. In a 40-second video message on reaching the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat after his release, Singh made an appeal to his followers not to turn up at the ashram and adhere to the instructions of the sect elders.

His release from the jail coincides with the Assembly poll in Rajasthan where he has a sizeable number of followers across four-five districts. Out of jail eight times in the past four years, he was granted 21 days’ furlough to meet his family members in Gurugram from February 7-27 last year, which too coincided with the Assembly election in Punjab. He was again out on parole in October last year ahead of the Adampur by-election and Haryana panchayat polls.

Singh was granted a month-long parole in June last year as well and had stayed at the sect’s ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat during this period.

Third time this year

This is his third temporary release from jail this year. He was earlier granted parole for 40 days and 30 days in January and July respectively. 

Singh was granted a day’s parole in October 2020 and 12-hour parole in May 2021 to meet his ailing mother. According to the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, a convict is eligible for 10 weeks of parole in a calendar year on the completion of one year of sentence, and this can be availed in two parts. The convicted prisoner can himself submit the parole application and need not assign any reason for it. A parole is a temporary release of a prisoner but granted on the request of the prisoner and can be denied, whereas furlough, again an interim release, is a basic right of a prisoner.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court had in October 2021 sentenced Singh and four others to life imprisonment for the murder of a Dera manager, Ranjit Singh, who was shot dead on July 10, 2002 at Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra. Singh was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in 2017 for raping two disciples and has since been lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail.