Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is set to walk out of jail again ahead of yet another election after the Election Commission approved his parole petition. This will be his third temporary release in the past nine months and the 15th in the last four years.
The release of Ram Rahim Singh, who wields influence in Haryana and Punjab, comes days ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly elections. Ram Rahim's furloughs and paroles have consistently coincided with elections, be it to municipal bodies or state assemblies.
During the parole period, the Dera chief will be prohibited from entering Haryana and is barred from participating in any election campaign activities, either in person or via social media. With the Election Commission's approval in place, the Haryana government is now expected to soon issue an order for his release.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim returned to Sunaria jail on September 2 after a 21-day furlough, granted on August 13. Since 2020, the Dera chief has been granted temporary release 14 times, totalling 259 days, through furloughs and paroles.
Ram Rahim's parole on January 19 came ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Similarly, during the 2022 Punjab Assembly election, the Dera chief was granted a 21-day furlough from February 7 to February 27. His eighth release, on June 17, 2022, also coincided with the Haryana municipal elections.
Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of murder and rape. He remains lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak.
Earlier Haryana’s chief electoral officer Pankaj Aggarwal sought an explanation from the state government when Ram Rahim sought 20-day parole, less than a month after he returned to Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail after a 21day furlough. Aggarwal asked the state govt to explain what “compelling” circumstances, if any, exist for the Dera chief’s application to be accepted.
Ram Rahim’s petition states he has work to attend to at dera ashram in UP’s Barnawa. Aggarwal’s query to jails department, sent through additional chief secretary Anurag Rastogi, is in context of model code of conduct for the Oct 5 assembly election.
