No Further Parole To Rape Convict Ram Rahim Without Permission: High Court
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has raised concerns regarding the repeated parole granted to Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda and a convicted rapist serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The court directed the Haryana government to ensure Ram Rahim’s surrender on March 10, as his current 50-day parole is set to expire. This comes amidst increasing scrutiny over the frequency of paroles granted to rape convicts.
The bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhwalia and Justice Lapita Banerji was hearing a petition filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) challenging the self-claimed Godman’s temporary release.
“In the meantime, the said respondent may surrender on the date fixed, i.e., March 10, 2024, and thereafter, the state authorities shall not consider his case for grant of further parole till further orders without the permission of this Court,” stated the Court in its order.
The Court also ordered the state government to file the necessary custody certificate, mentioning that the respondent has surrendered on the fixed date. Furthermore, the Court directed the state of Haryana to present details on how many individuals with “such criminal antecedent” have been granted parole so far.
The next hearing will be on March 11.
Ram Rahim’s parole history reveals a pattern of multiple releases, which raises eyebrows. The chief of Dera Sacha Sauda had been granted parole on seven different occasions over nearly 10 months and nine times in the past four years. He was granted a 50-day parole on January 19, two months after the sect chief had been on temporary release on November 21 last year. Prior to that, he was granted a 21-day furlough, his third parole, from the Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district in 2023.
According to a Times of India report, the rape convict has been outside of jail for 232 days in the past two years, with 91 days each in the past two years. The Court observed, “It is also to be noticed that in spite of the pendency of the present petition, in which notice of motion was issued on January 1, 2023, the State of Haryana has still chosen to grant him indulgence of parole again on July 20, November 21, and January 19, 2024, for a period of 30, 21, and 50 days. At present, the said respondent is also on parole up to March 10.”
Ram Rahim is currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples. Along with four others, the Dera chief was also convicted for a conspiracy to murder Dera manager Ranjit Singh. The Dera Chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.
