Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh granted 40-day parole

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a prison sentence in Haryana’s Sunaria jail, has been granted parole for 40 days, official sources said on Friday

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a prison sentence in Haryana’s Sunaria jail, has been granted parole for 40 days, official sources said on Friday.

Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women followers at his ashram in Sirsa. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017. (HT file photo)

The move comes just ahead of the Adampur byelections, which is scheduled to be held on November 3.

The dera chief had earlier come out of prison on a month-long parole in June.

Prior to that, he was granted three weeks’ furlough in February.

The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017.

Last year, he was also convicted along with four others for hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a dera manager, in 2002.

The dera chief and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

SGPC objects to Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s parole

AMRITSAR The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Harjinder Singh Dhami on Friday strongly objected to Haryana government’s parole granted to Dera Sirsa head Gurmeet Ram Rahim. He said the governments are adopting “double standards” with Sikhs. “On one hand, special kindness is being shown to Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is serving sentence under heinous charges of rapes and murder and an accused of sacrilege cases and on the other hand, the Sikhs who are lodged in jails for three decades are not being released even after they have completed their sentences”. He said even a large number of imprisoned Sikhs have been deprived of parole.

“This is dual policy, which brings the functioning of governments under question. Such tactics for political gain are not in the interest of the country and governments should refrain from hurting Sikh sentiments,” he added.