Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, received a 20-year prison sentence in 2017 for the rape of two of his followers. He has since spent ten times outside of prison on parole or furlough; the most recent being on August 13, when he was released on a 21-day furlough.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda
The Indian Expresses examined these paroles and furloughs in more detail which revealed that a number of the most recent ones have happened around state and federal elections in Haryana. Additionally, the most recent furlough occurs a few weeks before Haryana’s Assembly elections on October 1.
The Dera chief was released from prison three times in 2022. Weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections, in early February, there was a 21-day leave. With 92 seats, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) triumphed over the BJP which only won two seats and the Congress which secured eighteen seats. Then, in June, he was granted a 30-day release, a decision that caused some controversy because the panchayat elections were soon to be held. BJP leader and former Karnal mayor Renu Bala Gupta was spotted virtually seeking blessings from Ram Rahim during his internet satsang (discourses) in the Rohtak area, despite the fact that he remained restricted in his ashram in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. Then, in October, just before an Assembly bypoll in Adampur, he was granted another 40 days release.
Ram Rahim’s repeated release from jail has been strongly contested by the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), who have even taken the matter to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the court rejected the SGPC’s petition last month.
The Dera chief has political backing. Ranjit Singh Chautala, Haryana jail minister and current BJP member, is probably going to run in the upcoming elections to hold the Rania Assembly seat, which is a part of the Sirsa district which is home to the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters. BJP leaders who have continuously supported Ram Rahim’s paroles and furloughs include Ranjit Singh, one of the sons of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and Manohar Lal Khattar, the current Union Minister.
“Any prisoner is given parole for 70 days and furlough for 30 days, according to the jail manual,” stated Ranjit Singh upon Ram Rahim’s release in January. Parole is renewable twice; furlough is granted once. The prisoner has the option. In Haryana, there are between 23 and 24 000 prisoners, and everyone is subject to the same regulations. A prisoner serving a seven-year sentence may submit an application to the District Magistrate. The Divisional Commissioner takes up the cases of those serving sentences longer than seven years.
When questioned about the matter last year, Khattar also cited similar norms and regulations. “It is his right to be granted parole if he has completed all the requirements, and that must be the case. According to the guidelines, every prisoner applies for parole. Then-CM stated, “He gets it if the rule permits it; he doesn’t get it if the rule does not permit.”
The three-time Congress MLA Harminder Jassi, who joined the BJP in May in the presence of Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, is the father-in-law of Ram Rahim’s son. However, the Dera chief and BJP have a long history together that goes beyond just family.
In the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, the Dera publicly backed the BJP in Haryana. Despite taking seven of the state’s ten parliamentary seats, the party was defeated by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Sirsa. Later that year the BJP is believed to have won the state for the first time thanks largely to the Dera’s subsequent support for the party in the Assembly elections, when its tally increased from four to 47 in the 90-member House. Following the elections, a number of BJP politicians rushed to meet Ram Rahim, and pictures of their cars lining up outside the Dera headquarters in Sirsa quickly went viral.