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ROHTAK: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, convicted in separate cases of rape and murder, walked out of a prison in Rohtak district of Haryana on Tuesday, after he was granted a 21-day furlough by the Haryana government.

Ram Rahim has been granted seven paroles and three furloughs by the Haryana government since his sentenc ing in 2017. He was last granted a 50-day parole on January 19 this year. A parole is for a spe- cific exigency and a furlough, a general break from imprison ment, according to the Supreme Court. The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on August 9 had asked the Haryana government to consider pleas for parole/ furloughs from Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim without “favouritism or discrimination”.

The high court had disposed of the January 2023 plea from the Shiromani Gurdwara Par bandhak Committee (SGPC) against frequent paroles to Ram Rahim with these observations. It said the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Tem- porary Release), 2022 has rightly been applied by Haryana while considering and deciding the application of parole filed by Ram Rahim.

During these proceedings, on February 29, the court had restrained Haryana from grant ing him parole furlough without the permission of court.

However, subsequently, in June Ram Rahim had moved to court seeking modification of the order. Seeking furlough in his latest application, he had argued that his application for furlough before authorities related to Article 21 of the Constitution (Protection for life and liberty) and that 91 days of temporary release in a calendar year is a if statutory right of a prisoner he found eligible. Hence, the February 29 order should be modified. The Sirsa-headquartered Dera sect chief will stay at the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district, the people privy to the matter said.

“God will bless you happiness. You have to stay at your homes and no one will come here (Dera at Baghpat). Sewa dars will direct you and you have to follow their directions, Ram Rahim said in a video after he walked out of Sunaria prison in Rohtak.

Ram Rahim had moved the plea for the furlough in the high court in June this year, saying he needed r to participate in a programme hosted by the

Dera Sacha Sauda. The SGPC, however, challenged the petition, saying the Dera chief is serving multiple sentences for serious crimes such as murder, and rape and poses a great threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, if released.

Last week, the high court said that Singh’s release should be decided by an appropriate authority without any “arbitrariness or favouritism”, and dismissed a petition by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which had challenged the frequent reliefs granted to the Dera chief.

According to the warrant issued by Rohtak divisional commissioner for his temporary release, Ram Rahim shall reside at the Dera’s Shah Sat nam Ji Ashram in Barnawa during the furlough period. He will also not be allowed to visit any place not specified in the warrant without the district magistrate’s prior permission, it said.

The warrant also said that Ram Rahim would provide to the district magistrate concerned, full particulars of the place where he intended to reside during the period of his temporary release at the time of his release and keep the official informed of any subsequent change in residence. The warrant also requires him to keep peace and maintain good chater the expiry of his 21-day behaviour.

furlough, Ram Rahim will have to surrender to the superintendent of the jail from which he was released to undergo the unexpired period of his sentence, It said. Ram Rahim has been convicted in two cases of rape and murder, respectively. In 2017, he was awarded 20 years of Imprisonment for raping two of his disciples at the Dera premises in Sirsa in 2002. He was then awarded life terms, first in 2019 and then in 2021, for conspiring the murder of a journalist on October 24, 2002 and a Dera follower on July 10, 2002.

Since his first conviction in 2017, Ram Rahim has been granted parole 7 times and furlough 3 times.

On January 19, the Dera sect chief was granted a 50-day parole, during which he stayed at the ashram in Baghpat. Taking note of a pending petition filed by the SGPC in 2023, the high court in Febru- ary this year asked the Haryana government not to consider granting such reliefs to Ram Rahim without the court’s permission. The court pointed out that.

in spite of the pendency of the petition challenging the frequent reliefs, the Haryana gov ernment chose to grant Ram Rahim parole thrice between July 2023 and January 2024. HT in October 2022 reported that many of Ram Rahim’s temporary releases happened to coincide with either state polls or local polls or bypolls. and experts linked this to his popularity in Haryana despite the convictions. Assembly elec tions in the state are also due to be held this year.

For case specific advice, connect with High Court Fir Parole Furlough Lawyers in Chandigarh Panchkula Mohali Zirakpur Derabassi Kharar online.

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