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Sirsa dera head gets 30-day parole ahead of birthday, exhausts annual quota
10-week regular parole is granted to a convict in a calendar year; Ram Rahim had availed 40-day parole in Jan this year
The controversial chief of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year sentence for rape and subsequent two life terms for murders at a Rohtak prison following his conviction by a CBI court, was on Thursday granted a 30-day temporary release (regular parole) from the prison, his second this year.
The parole comes ahead of Ram Rahim’s birthday on August 15. The dera head has now exhausted the 10-week period (70 days) stipulated under the law for grant of regular parole to a convicted prisoner in a calendar year. Ram Rahim has already availed a 40-day regular parole January this year, the first part of the cumulative 10-week period allowed under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act. The Act stipulated that the period for which a convicted prisoner may be released on regular parole shall be 10 weeks in a calendar year cumulatively and the convicted prisoner may avail it in two parts.
Still can get three-week furlough
Ram Rahim, however, can still get temporary release of three weeks on furlough but as per law he cannot avail this period of temporary release in parts.
Ram Rahim has been convicted and sentenced in three cases, including two life terms. A CBI court in 2017 handed him a 20-year sentence for raping his followers and he was awarded life terms in January 2019 and October 2021 for two murders. He walked out for a 30-day life out of prison after furnishing two sureties and a personal bond of ₹three lakhs.
Difference between parole & furlough
When a prisoner is on parole his or her period of release does not count towards the total period of sentence. But when he or she is on furlough, he or she is eligible to have the period of release counted towards the total period of his sentence undergone by him. Thus, the period of sentence spent on furlough by the prisoners need not be undergone by him as is done in the case of parole.
Will stay at Baghpat ashram
As was in January after the grant of 40-day regular parole, Ram Rahim Singh would stay confined to Dera Sacha Sauda ashram at Barnawa in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh. As per the conditions specified for his temporary release, the Dera head will not visit any other place without the prior permission of Baghpat district magistrate.
However, he will continue to have a virtual connect with his followers on YouTube and other social media channels. While the sect had organised large-scale cleanliness drives in Haryana and Rajasthan January onwards with Ram Rahim leading the way through his video interactive sessions, he will “motivate his disciples” this time to scale up the post-flood relief tasks, said dera representatives. “Our volunteers get motivated when they see Guruji on video,’’ said a dera representative.
Son of slain journalist questions the new law
Anshul Chhatrapati, son of slain journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, for whose murder the dera head and three others were sentenced to life by a CBI court in 2019 said that the new law gives prisoners like dera head too much relaxation for grant of temporary release. “In the old law, there were certain conditions that a convict had to fulfil for being considered for grant of temporary release. The new law has lacunae as it does not consider the dera head as a hardcore convict despite his sentencing in three different cases including rape and murder.
The Haryana government, after seeking legal opinion from advocate general BR Mahajan, had in 2022 concluded that Ram Rahim does not fall in the category of hardcore prisoners. Hardcore prisoners defined in Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act are subjected to severe restrictions in terms of grant of temporary release and are allowed only 48 to 96 hours of temporary release under an armed police escort for attending marriage or in the event of death of close family members. As per the Act, hardcore prisoners are those who, among several other crimes, are convicted for “serial killing — that is murder under section 302 of the IPC in two or more cases in different first information reports.”
The dera head has been awarded life terms in the two murder cases though his sentence will start after he completes his 20-year sentence.
“He has been convicted for criminal conspiracy under section 120-B read with section 302 of the IPC in both the murder cases. Section 302 in his convictions determines the quantum of punishment only,” the AG had told HT quoting the 2013 amendment in the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act.
