Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Tuesday walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district after the authorities granted him 21-day parole. He was released this morning at 6:30 am. Two vehicles from the ashram came for Ram Rahim. He will stay at Dera's Baghpat ashram.
The development comes days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 9 disposed of the SGPC's petition which challenged the grant of temporary release to the jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief, observing that a plea for temporary release be considered by the competent authority without any "arbitrariness or favourtism".
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex gurdwara body, had filed the petition against the temporary release of Ram Rahim. The SGPC had also contended that the Dera chief was suffering multiple sentences for committing grave offences such as murder and rape and if released, it will jeopardise the sovereignty and integrity of India and adversely affect public order.
Ram Rahim in June this year had moved the high court, seeking directions to grant him a 21-day furlough. On February 29, the high court had asked the Haryana government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission.
Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples and is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district. He was granted a 50-day parole on January 19.
In its order, the court rejected the SGPC's contention that instead of Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988 should have been applied while considering and granting parole to the Dera chief. The argument of learned senior counsel for the petitioner is liable to be rejected at the very outset for the simple reason that the Act of 2022 governs the process of conditional temporary release of prisoners for good conduct, said the order.
The competent authority in case of respondent No. 9 (Dera chief) is the divisional commissioner of police, said the court. "However, this Court would like to observe that in case any application is made by respondent No. 9 for temporary release, the same shall be considered strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 2022 without the competent authority indulging in arbitrariness or favouritism or discrimination," said the order.
In May this year, the high court had acquitted Ram Rahim and four others in the 2002 murder of sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations in the matter.
A special CBI court had sentenced the five to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder case of Ranjit Singh. Ram Rahim had been held guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.
(With agency inputs)
Also read: Modi govt extends discussion on Broadcasting Services Bill, to publish fresh draft
