Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is once again out on parole, this time for 40 days from Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district. Although the ruling BJP leadership in Haryana has vehemently denied that the timing of his release has nothing to do with the upcoming panchayat polls and the Adampur bypoll, BJP leaders were among those who sought the blessings of Ram Rahim who has been convicted of murder and rape.
In the nearly one-and-a-half hour online interaction of the Dera chief with his followers Wednesday, Haryana Assembly Deputy Speaker Ranbir Gangwa was seen seeking his blessings and praising the humanitarian works undertaken by the Dera at several places. The BJP MLA from Nalwa in Hisar recalled his family’s association with the Dera. On Tuesday, Karnal mayor Renu Bala Gupta interacted with the Dera chief Gupta sought his blessings for the upcoming polls and addressed him as “pita ji”.
Previously, Ram Rahim was granted parole thrice in 2021 and twice in 2022 — for 21 days in February and for a month in June. The timing of the Dera chief’s repeated releases keeps raising eyebrows. On February 7, he was granted furlough just days before the Punjab Assembly polls and granted Z-plus security cover “due to a high-level threat to his life from pro-Khalistan elements”.
At that time, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar refuted any connection between Gurmeet’s release and the polls. “The convict has been granted furlough as there is a provision for the same in law. There is no connection with the Punjab polls and it is just a coincidence,” Khattar had said at the time.
Once again, he came out on 30-day parole in June. At the time, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami condemned the Haryana government for releasing him repeatedly. “On the one hand, the government is not releasing Sikh prisoners even after they completed their jail terms. On the other, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is serving imprisonment for heinous cases such as rape and murder, is getting released from jail time and again,” Dhami had said.
In June 2019, Ram Rahim was made to withdraw his parole plea after the Opposition parties cornered the Haryana government for allegedly favouring him. At the time, he had sought a 42-day parole to tend to his farm in Sirsa.
According to the prison authorities, a convict is entitled to parole of 90 days every year, subject to clearances on his conduct and security clearances from the district administration where he or she would be staying during the parole period.
The Dera chief, first convicted in August 2017 by a special CBI court in Panchkula, is currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his women disciples at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa. In 2019, Ram Rahim and three others were convicted for the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. Last year, he, along with four others, was convicted for hatching a conspiracy to kill the Dera’s former manager Ranjit Singh, who was shot dead, also in 2002.
In 2014, the Dera chief was among the most sought-after politicians in Haryana. Leaders from across party lines used to make a beeline to seek his “blessings” ahead of the polls.
After winning the 2014 assembly polls in Haryana with an absolute majority for the first time, pictures of BJP leaders visiting Ram Rahim in Sirsa made headlines. Several videos and pictures of BJP leaders standing with their folded hands in front of the Dera chief to seek his support went viral.
However, his downfall began in 2017 when he was convicted for the first time by the special CBI court on charges of rape of two of his women disciples. Dera followers went on a rampage resulting in a fierce clash with the armed forces. Statewide protests erupted in protest against his conviction resulting in several deaths. The army had to be deployed at several places in the state to control the law and order disruption. Ram Rahim was taken out of the CBI court in a chopper.
With Ram Rahim currently again out on 40-day parole, he has started holding online congregations from his Dera in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat. A video of another woman, identifying herself as a family member of the Hisar mayor, seeking his blessings has gone viral on social media.
Soon after reaching Baghpat, the Dera chief released a video addressed to his followers and said – “As you were told, keep believing. Do as you are told by responsible people. I have reached the ashram. May God keep everybody happy. Have faith as you were told earlier. I am very proud of my children. May the supreme father, the supreme soul, give you a lot of happiness. Arrived [here] a while ago. You will remember those seas. The seas have risen more. You all are watching it. [I] shall keep talking to you. Blessings to children, youths and elders”.
Haryana Prisons Minister Ranjit Singh said it is “the legal right of any convict to be released from the prison on parole or furlough, provided the convict completed a requisite number of months of the imprisonment inside prison”.