Merely 3 months after he got a 21-day parole, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is once again out on a 40-day parole. The self-styled godman is serving a 20-year sentence in the Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana, for the rape of his two disciples and the murder of a journalist. He was released from prison on Tuesday morning (5th August) and left for the Dera Ashram in Sirsa, Punjab. He will return to jail on 14th September. This is his third parole this year.
Rahim has been granted temporary release a total of 14 times since his conviction in 2017, including paroles granted to him between 2020-22 (several times totalling 83 days), in January 2023 (40 days), July 2023 (40 days), November 2023 (21 days), January 2024 (50 days), October 2024 (20 days), January 2025 (30 days) and April 2025 (21 days).
Since his conviction in 2017, he has spent 366 days on parole in total, more than a year.
BREAKING ⚠️
40 more days of parole for rape-murder convict Dera chief Gurmeet Singh, 3 months after his last parole.
That’s 91 days out of jail just this year so far. That’s 366 days out of jail total.
Shame on the Courts, shame on the Govt. pic.twitter.com/s6eiDECFCG
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) August 5, 2025
Rahim got paroles for various reasons, including birthday celebrations
He has been obtaining these temporary releases for a variety of reasons, including family visits, religious activities, farming and even birthday celebrations. In January 2023, he was granted parole after he mentioned in his application that he wanted to attend an event marking the birth anniversary of former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh on January 25. Notably, this time he has been granted parole before his own birthday, which falls on 15th August. His parole condition requires him to stay in the Sirsa Ashram.
Ram Rahim’s parole trigger questions of political support
Many times, the timing of his parole coincided with assembly elections in different states. In 2022, Ram Rahim got out on parole three times. In February 2022, he was out for 21 days during the Punjab Assembly elections. Subsequently, his parole period in June 2022 overlapped with civic body polls in Haryana. And finally, that year in October, he got a temporary release of 40 days during the Haryana by-elections. Similarly, in October 2020, his parole coincided with the Haryana assembly elections. However, during his temporary release around election time, his parole conditions included barring him from participating in election-related activities, making speeches, and staying in the state during the election period.
Criminal cases against Ram Rahim
Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s tenure as the Dera chief has been marred by controversies. Rahim, who has a huge following, leads a pompous lifestyle not expected of spiritual leaders. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers. CBI had registered the case on the orders passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2003 and taken over the investigation of the case, earlier registered at Police Station Sadar in Kurukshetra.
In 2019, he was convicted of the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. Subsequently, in 2021, Rahim, along with four others, was convicted in connection with the murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh, a resident of village Khanpur Kolian, Kurukshetra. Singh was murdered on July 10, 2002, when he was working in his fields at village Khanpur Kolian of District Kurukshetra in Haryana.
Pertinently, the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, allows parole to convicted prisoners. However, prisoners convicted of multiple murders or under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act are not eligible for parole under the Act.
Dera Chief’s parole mocks Indian judiciary
The Dera Chief has made a mockery of the Indian judicial system by securing such frequent paroles in just 8 years of his 20-year imprisonment. The fact that he is able to come out of prison for such trivial reasons, despite being convicted of serious offences, raises questions on the judiciary, and the entire system.