Dera Chief Ram Rahim out on month long parole, seventh time in 30 months

Sirsa Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim, who is currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women at his ashram, walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak on a month-long parole.

Chandigarh: Sirsa Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim, who is serving a sentence in Sunaria jail for crimes like rape and murder, has been granted parole for 30 days. He will be released from Rohtak's Sunaria Jail on July 20. However, he has been asked to remain in contact with the local police during his parole period.

Like before, Ram Rahim will be staying at Barnava Ashram in Baghpat of Uttar Pradesh. Also, he will not be allowed to go to Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa camp. The last parole of Ram Rahim was for 40 days in January 2023. Notably, this is Ram Rahim's 7th parole during the span of 30 months in prison, the fifth in the last 20 months and the third in less than nine months.

Taking a jibe at the decision of granting parole to the controversial godman by the Haryana government amid the Manipur violence, Swati Maliwal, Chairperson of the Delhi Commission of Women said, "Seeing what happened in Manipur, the whole country was seeth with anger. Meanwhile, the Haryana government is busy giving continuous paroles to rapist Ram Rahim."

While serving 30 months in jail for rape and murder, the accused was granted one-day parole on October 24 2020, for visiting his sick mother for the first time. On May 21, 2021, he was granted a day's parole to visit his mother for the second time on May 21, 2021. The Haryana government granted him 21 days of parole on February 7, 2022. In June 2022, he was granted one month parole. In October 2022, he was released on 40 days of parole. He was granted 40 days parole to attend Dera Chief Shah Satnam's birth anniversary on January 21, 2023.

Ram Rahim is serving 20 years in jail for the rape of two female disciples at his ashram Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters at Sirsa Camp. He was convicted in August 2017 by a special CBI court in Panchkula. In 2021, Gurmeet and four others were found guilty of conspiring to murder Dera's manager Ranjit Singh in 2002. In 2019, Gurmeet and three other people were found guilty of killing a journalist 16 years ago.