Chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, will walk out of the jail at Sunaria in Rohtak one more time as a fresh 40-day parole was granted. This is the most recent reprieve, which means that the self-proclaimed godman (who includes a life sentence for murder and a 20-year jail sentence for rape) will have spent about 405 days outside the prison since his conviction in August 2017.
Reports say that Ram Rahim has recently been granted another parole to enable him to be present during the January 25 birthday anniversary of Shah Satnam Singh, the second head of Dera Sacha Sauda. Monday is his projected date to come out of jail.
Regular Parole, Political history and Scandal
It is noted that it is the 15th instance that Ram Rahim has received parole or furlough since he was convicted. It has attracted criticism that the recurrence of his releases over the years has been the result of the serious nature of the crimes, as well as that numerous of his paroles have occurred during major political or social events in the states of Haryana and Punjab.
The trend has raised eyebrows a few times. He was given 30 days’ parole in January 2025 before the elections. In April 2025, he was granted a 21-day furlough and his other extended parole in August last year. Previously, Ram Rahim was released on a 20-day parole in October of 2024, only days before the Haryana Assembly polls. Furlough before the Punjab Assembly elections. He was granted furlough in February 2022.
The repeated leniency of the Dera chief has, in the past, elicited a strong protest by various Sikh and civil society organisations such as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). They have blamed the governments for using his release as a political advantage since the Dera has a large following in the North Indian parts.
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Where does he remain when he is on parole?
Most times Ram Rahim has left prison, he has been staying at the ashram of dera in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, under heavy security. When he appears during parole, huge crowds of people are the norm and religious occasions, but in the old days, even internet discussions were the norm for his appeals, a fact that critics claim has affected thousands of his followers.
The Dera Sacha Sauda has a huge fan base in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and a number of other states. In Haryana alone, the followers of the Dera are very high in such districts as Sirsa, Kurukshetra, Hisar, Kaithal and Fatehabad and so on, providing the Dera with very significant social and political power.
Conscriptions and bloody Conclusion
The unraveling of Ram Rahim started with the conviction of the latter by a special CBI court based in Panchkula concerning two rape cases against him involving his female followers on August 25, 2017. Shortly after the decision, large-scale violence swept Haryana and Punjab with the proponents going on a rampage, killing over 40 individuals, looting and destroying both government and personal property.
In January 2019, he was convicted to life imprisonment over the murder of a journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who had given publicity to sexual exploitation within the Dera. He was again convicted in 2021 and sentenced to another life sentence for the murder of his former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, but that case was later acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Although his criminal convictions were considerable, and the threat he posed to the security of the people was clear in 2017, Ram Rahim still managed to secure regular temporary compliances, which is why his opponents say it is unreasonable.
Justice vs. Population
According to those who are in support of the Dera chief, his paroles are done in accordance with the constitution and due process of the law. Nonetheless, critics claim that the recurrent grants point to a dualist system in the justice system, in which a high-profile inmate is released at a rate uncommon for common convicts.
Political leadership and community organisations have repeatedly raised concerns about whether the concerns of public safety, justice to the victim and sensitivity to society are being properly considered before such a long period of leave is given.
This has been repeatedly taken to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the past, asking the judiciary to conduct a judicial scrutiny of his parole. Nonetheless, Indian law permits parole on temporary conditions like good conduct, health, family functions or humanitarian grounds as permitted under parole laws in India and have been quoted in several approvals by the authorities.
