With Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh getting parole for the second time in the past three months, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday accused the government of bending over backwards to please a rape and murder convict.
“Yet another parole to Ram Rahim as Bandi Singhs (Sikh prisoners) languish in jails long after serving their jail terms. Is this how our rulers aim to apply healing touch to anguished Sikh hearts? Never seen a govt so desperately bending over backwards to please a rape and murder convict. Besides rubbing salt into wounds of the Sikhs, this exposes the anti-Sikh intent behind the cosmetic gestures of the government. Akali Dal strongly condemns this,” said the SAD.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, however, said he was not aware of the DSS chief’s parole. “Getting parole is his right, and I will not interfere in the case,” he said, adding that he was certain that all procedures were followed in the granting of the parole.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim walked out of the Sunaria jail in Rohtak (Haryana) on Saturday after he was granted 40-day parole on Friday. On Saturday evening, Dera chief reached the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram at Barnawa in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, reports said.
Rohtak Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Verma said the parole has been granted for 40 days. It has been granted in accordance with rules. The Dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, had got 40-day parole in October last year which had ended on 25 November.
Prior to his October parole, the sect chief had come out of prison on a month-long parole in June. He was also granted three weeks of furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, had earlier raised an objection after Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted a 40-day parole last year.
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami had alleged that while special kindness was being shown to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Sikh prisoners lodged in jails for about three decades were not being released even after completing their sentences.
In 2021, the Dera chief, along with four others, was also convicted for hatching a conspiracy to kill Ranjit Singh, a Dera manager. The Dera chief and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.