The Haryana government has approved a 21-day parole extension for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the imprisoned chief of Dera Sacha Sauda. Currently serving sentences in two rape cases and facing life imprisonment in two distinct murder cases, this latest parole approval constitutes his sixth temporary release within a span of 21 months.
8th parole in 3 years
The last parole was granted to Gurmeet Ram Rahim on July 20 this year for 30 days. The rape and murder convict was out on parole on his birthday on August 15 and reportedly stayed at his UP Ashram in Barwana, Baghpat.
This is the sixth time in the last 20 months and fourth time in less than a year that Ram Rahim has been granted parole. Earlier, he was released on parole for 40 days in October 2022 ahead of the Haryana panchayat election and the Adampur Assembly bypoll. He had first got parole in October 24, 2020 and this is the eighth time in 38 months or three years that he has been granted parole.
Paroles to Ram Rahim
- For the first time on October 24, 2020, the government granted him one day parole to meet his mother who was ill.
- Granted parole for 1 day on 21 May 2021 to meet ailing mother for the second time.
- On 7 February 2022, the Haryana government granted him parole for 21 days.
- On June 2022, Ram Rahim was again given parole for one month.
- On October 2022, Ram Rahim was once again released on parole for 40 days.
- Ram Rahim was granted parole for 40 days on 21 January 2023 to attend Dera chief Shah Satnam's birth anniversary.
- Ram Rahim was granted parole for 30-days on July 2023
Days out of jail
in 2017, Gurmeet Ram Rahim received a 20-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting two female followers.
However, starting from his first parole in October 2023, Gurmeet Ram Rahim has spent 163 days out on parole in the last three years. Including the 21-day parole granted to him Monday, the controversial and rape-convict godman would spent 184 days out on parole in the last three years.
For someone having convicted for charges as heinous as rape and murder, its is baffling that Gurmeet Ram Rahim continues to get paroles one after another.
Khattar had backed parole to Ram Rahim
After a controversy arose regarding the 40-day parole granted to Ram Rahim in January, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief had the right to parole when following all proper procedures.
"I was not aware that Ram Rahim has got parole. But if he has, then it must be after following all the procedures and that is his right. I will not interfere in that," Khattar had said.
Within that parole duration, Ram Rahim was observed "celebrating" by cutting a cake with a sword. In a video that emerged online in January, he expressed, "Got a chance after five years to celebrate like this, so I should cut at least five cakes. This is the first cake."
