Controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of the religious cult Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS), who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for raping two of his women disciples, came out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana, early Tuesday, August 25, after being granted a 21-day furlough, which is his 17th temporary release from jail in the nine years since his conviction in the case.
Convicted in August 2017, the 59-year-old chief of the Haryana-headquartered religious cult, had returned to jail the last time only in June 26, after a 30-day parole granted in May. Before that, he had stayed out of jail for 40 days on parole granted in January.
Also read: Jaish-e-Mohammed’s base in Pakistan, destroyed in Operation Sindoor, now rebuilt, operational
About 6.05 am on August 25, Ram Rahim walked out of the high-security jail in Rohtak. He is likely to spend his 21 days of furlough at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa, PTI reported, citing sources.
When Ram Rahim was convicted by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in August 2017, his followers had indulged in widespread violence in Haryana and Punjab, clashing with security forces. More than 40 people had died in Panchkula and Sirsa in the violence. Ram Rahim had to be brought to Sunaria jail in Rohtak from Panchkula in a helicopter.
Also read: Ask The Guru: “My husband wants me to wear sarees all the time. How do I handle this?”
Apart from the double rape conviction, Ram Rahim was also convicted in murder cases. He was convicted for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and sentenced to life imprisonment. Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted him in that case in March this year. In another murder case—that of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh—the HC acquitted him and four others in May 2024, citing flaws in the investigation.
Ram Rahim is also an accused in a case with allegations that hundreds of his followers were forcibly castrated. He has denied the allegations. He was granted bail in this case by a CBI court in Panchkula in October 2018.
According to prison records, Ram Rahim has spent 435 days outside jail on account of parole and furlough granted to him before this latest one since October 2020, when he was first given parole. These parole and furloughs are decided as per the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022. Eligible convicts can get up to 70 days of parole and 21 days of furlough in a year, as per this law.
In October 2024, Supreme Court of India lifted a Punjab and Haryana High Court order that had stayed Ram Rahim’s trial in three cases linked to alleged sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib in 2015.
