Jailed Dera chief seeks parole for farming

Jailed head of beleaguered Dera Sacha Sauda sect, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, has sought parole to attend to his agriculture work.

The sect chief has been in jail for the last twenty-two months since August 2017. Lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district of Haryana, Gurmeet Ram Rahim has written to the jail authorities for parole saying he wants to take care of his farming. Jail authorities have forwarded the plea to the district administration for comments.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was first sentenced to 20-years in jail by a Special CBI court in Panchkula for rape of two of his disciples. Last year, he was sentenced to life term for the murder of a journalist in Sirsa.

According to sources, the sect chief has been given the task as a garner in the jail compound. The jail authorities haven’t cited any irregular conduct of Gurmeet Ram Rahim during his nearly two-years of confinement behind bars. Officials, however, have given an account of the pending cases against him that would be kept in mind before deciding on his parole plea as per the jail manual.

Last month, a plea for parole to the sect chief was declined by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The sect chief’s ‘foster daughter’ Guransh Insan had moved the High Court for his release on 4-week parole to attend her wedding. The High Court had suggested that the sect chief could attend the wedding through video conferencing.

While dismissing the plea for parole, Justice Kuldip Singh had said, “I am of view that once this court has decided not to release Gurmeet Ram Rahim on parole to attend the marriage of his alleged foster daughter, this court cannot allow repeated applications on same or similar grounds by other alleged foster daughters, whose number may increase in the future, which may result in wastage of time of this court”.

Ram Rahim has two biological daughters and 17 foster daughters.