Sirsa: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is serving a sentence in a rape and murder case, was released from Sunaria jail on parole on Monday. He has been granted a 40-day parole and will stay at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.
Ram Rahim left the jail at around 11:45 am in an SUV amid tight police security arrangements. He is expected to reach Sirsa by around 3 pm. The parole has been granted ahead of the birth anniversary of the sect’s second guru Satnam Singh. A religious event is held every year at the Sirsa headquarters on January 25.
Since being convicted in 2017, this is the 15th time Ram Rahim has been released from jail. He was first granted a 21-day parole in October 2020. This was followed by parole in May 2021, a 21-day parole in February 2022, a 30-day parole in June 2022 and a 40-day parole in October 2022.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has objected to the fresh 40-day parole. SGPC president advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami said granting repeated relief to a convict facing serious charges and accused of actions against the Sikh community was shocking and amounted to a mockery of democracy and the justice system.
Dhami said such repeated special concessions by governments were unjust to the victims and raised serious questions about the credibility of the justice system. He added that if governments continue to provide relief to convicts for political gains, public trust in the law and justice system would erode.
