Haryana’s Court grants the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief 5th Parole in over a year, faces retaliation from Giani Raghbir Singh and Harjinder Singh Dhami
The Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of two rape cases two murders has been granted bail for the 5th time in 17 months. The frequency of his parole applications being accepted highlight the court’s defence against the Chief ; 21 days in February 2022, 30 days in June 2022, 40 days in October 2022 and another 40 days earlier this year.
According to the warrant issued for his temporary release, he has been subjected to10 conditions for the same. The parole has been decided on the stipulation that he would be stationed at Shah Satnam Ji Ashram Dera Sacha Sauda Barnava in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat. The permission for the residence was to be granted by the district magistrate (DM) of the area and a report dated 18th July sanctioned the same.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently imprisoned at Rohtak’s Sunaria jail and the plea comes after a previously sanctioned 30 day parole in January this year. The parole is deemed constitutional and well within the purview of a prisoner’s rights. The release takes an account of his good behaviour, under Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners Act 2022 as per the Rohtak jail Superintendent, the District Magistrate and the SP of Baghpat. Along with the aforementioned entitlement, the Dera chief is also principally liable to pay two assurances of 3 lakh each along with a personal bond to the DM as a testament to fulfilling all specified parole conditions.
Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee president Harjinder Singh Dhami openly condemn the release by decreeing it a biased and unnecessary act. They refute the Court’s decision, calling out discrepancies in the judicial system because of which other Sikh convicts are not being given parole. The SCPS (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) Chief Dhami expressed his open discontentment with the decision and highlighted the unsympathetic functioning of the courts which hamper the constitutional rights of other Sikh inmates. He also focuses gravely on the mistrust being perpetuated amongst the Sikh community through the acts of the government.
This statement was backed by Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh while he objected it on a video message saying that the ‘Khalsa Panth’ matter-of-factly rejects the rape convicts parole. Ram Rahim’s regular paroles are in direct contrast to the “Bandi Singhs” or Sikh prisoners who have spent more than three decades in the jail without a single release. Giani Raghbir Singh and Dhami hint towards the government’s ulterior political agenda and conspiracy behind such frequent parole agreements of a murderer.
Repudiating the same, the Haryana Deputy Chief Minister, Dushyant Chautala, defends the convict’s parole by deeming it a prisoner’s constitutional right. “If any permission is given which is not within the ambit of law, then government will definitely look into it” retaliated the Deputy CM.
Ram Rahim Singh was arrested in 2017 following his conviction in two rape cases, one of the victim’s being a former Dera Sadhvi along with the later conviction in two murders. He was directly involved in concocting a murder of the Dera manager Ranjit Singh along with 4 other people and a co-conspirator in the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago. He is serving a sentence of life imprisonment: 20 Years in jail, a decade each for two rape convictions.
