New Delhi: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak Monday after he was granted a 40-day parole by the Rohtak Divisional Commissioner, his 15th temporary stint outside of prison since he was convicted.
The Dera chief was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 by a special CBI court for the rape of two female disciples. In 2019, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
In 2021, he was convicted in the 2002 murder case of a Dera Sacha Sauda follower, though the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted him in this case in 2024.
The 15th parole comes ahead of the birth anniversary of the second leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, Shah Satnam Singh. Including this 40-day parole, Singh’s total time out of prison will cross 400 days since February 2022. ThePrint looks at all the times Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted paroles and furloughs since his first conviction in 2017.
2020-21:
Singh was granted one-day “emergency” bails on 24 October 2020 and 21 May 2021 to visit his ailing mother.
2022:
In 2022, the Dera chief was granted one furlough and two paroles, spending a total of 91 days out of jail. Curiously, all three instances came ahead of elections in Punjab and Haryana.
In February, Singh came out on furlough before the Punjab assembly elections. In June he was out on parole as the Haryana municipal elections approached and in October ahead of the Adampur assembly bypoll.
2023:
In January 2023, Singh was granted a 40-day parole due to similar reasons as the current one, so that he could attend the birth anniversary celebrations of the second Dera chief.
A viral video then showed him cutting a giant cake with a sword at Barnala Ashram, illegal under the Arms Act 1959. In July that year, and then again in November, he was once more out for a total of 51 days ahead of elections in Haryana and Rajasthan.
2024:
In January, Singh was granted a 50-day parole, which he spent in the Barnala Ashram in Uttar Pradesh.
In August that year, he was granted a 21-day furlough ahead of the Haryana assembly elections. Then, just days before the elections, he was out on parole again for 20 days.
2025:
Last year, he was out in January for a month ahead of the Delhi assembly elections. Then in April, he was granted a 21-day furlough for his sect’s 77th foundation day celebrations. Just about four months later, he walked out again in August on a 40-day parole for his 58th birthday.
As the pattern goes, each year since 2022, he has spent more than 90 days out of prison.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
Also read: Rape-murder convict Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim gets 40-day parole, his 14th release since 2017