Haryana government releases Ram Rahim again for 21 days

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government on Wednesday once again released Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is convicted of rape and murder, on a 21-day furlough.

He will be returning to jail on April 30. With this, in the 120 days from Jan 1 to April 30 this year, he will be out of jail for 51 days. In Jan, state govt had released him on a 30-day parole.

As per bail conditions, this time he will be staying at his Sirsa-based ashram.With Wednesday's release, the controversial preacher was released for 142 days by the BJP govt since Jan 20, 2024.

It amounts to more than four months over a period of one year. With latest orders, he has been able to get parole/furlough for the fifth time since Jan 2024 and for the 13th time for a total period of 326 days ever since he started getting parole/furlough from Oct 24, 2020.


He was released from Sunaria jail in Rohtak on Wednesday, after which he immediately left for his dera in Sirsa. It is the second time since his conviction in rape cases in Aug 2017 that Ram Rahim has been permitted to visit the dera in Sirsa.

During his previous releases from jail on parole or furlough, he was not allowed to stay in Sirsa, but was permitted to stay only at Shah Satnam Ji Ashram, Dera Sacha Sauda, Barnava, Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh. Sources added the permission for him to stay in Sirsa was granted after getting clearance from the district magistrate of Sirsa.

The detailed order was not available till the filing of this report, but the sources added the dera chief had been released in view of the "raising day" of the dera.

The dera chief has been serving a sentence in Rohtak's Sunaria jail since Aug 2017. On Aug 25, 2017, a special CBI court in Panchkula convicted him of the rape of sadhvis (female disciples) and sentenced him to two terms of 20 years each. He is also serving a sentence for a journalist's murder. Around 40 persons lost their lives in Aug 2017 after violence broke out in Panchkula and other parts of Haryana and Punjab after he was convicted of rape.

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