Chandigarh: The controversial head of the Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, on Friday approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to grant him a 21-day furlough.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who headed Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, is a convict in rape and murder case and is currently lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district of Haryana since 2017.
The high court had on February 29 last, had directed the Haryana government not to entertain the Dera chief’s application for further parole without its permission in future. This direction was in the wake of the petition of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) which had challenged the repeated grant of temporary release to the Dera chief.
Approaching the high court for the furlough, the Dera head sought the directions to consider and decide the application for furlough in accordance with the law under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (temporary release) Act, 2022, stating that an application for furlough had already been made to the authorities concerned but the same had not been considered due to the high court’s February 29 stay order.
In his latest plea seeking furlough, Singh has mentioned various welfare activities which are carried out by the Dera headed by him for which the drive was required to be carried out by him. The release was sought in view of an event "Sewadar Shradhanjali Bhandara" organised by the Dera, to pay tribute to regular volunteers who spent their lives in social services and lost their lives.
A division bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, deferred the matter to after vacation, for July 2 while also orally observing that the acting chief justice's bench, where the main case is sub-judice would hear the plea.
