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Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, has been granted a 40-day parole, sources said on Tuesday. Singh (57) will stay at his Sirsa-headquartered Dera during the 40-day period beginning Tuesday, the sources said. This comes months after Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after being granted a 21-day furlough in April. In January, Singh was granted a 30-day parole, ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly polls. He was also granted a 20-day parole on October 1 last year, ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls. Singh was convicted in 2017 for raping two of his disciples. In May last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted the Dera chief and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations into the matter. Earlier, a special CBI court sentenced them to life imprisonment in the nearly 20-year-old murder
The Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday pronounced 'tankhah' (religious punishment) for Sukhbir Singh Badal for the "mistakes" committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal and its government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, directing him to perform as a 'sewadar' and clean utensils and shoes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Pronouncing the order from the 'faseel' (podium) of the Akal Takht in Amritsar, Jathedar of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, Giani Raghbir Singh, also directed the working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to accept the resignation of Sukhbir Badal as party chief, besides forming a committee to hold elections for the post of SAD president and office-bearers within six months. The Jathedar further announced to withdraw the title of 'Fakhre-e-Qaum' bestowed upon former chief minister late Parkash Singh Badal, father of Sukhbir Badal. The five Singh Sahibans (Sikh clergy) also pronounced religious punishment for other Sikh leaders who served as ministers in
The Haryana government may consider Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's parole subject to the correctness of facts mentioned in his parole plea and satisfying other conditions with respect to the Model Code of Conduct for elections, Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said on Monday. Singh has sought a 20-day parole ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls. With the model code of conduct in place, the sect chief's application for parole was sent to the election department which had asked the jails department to specify the "emergent and compelling" reasons behind the request that justify the release of convicts on parole during polls. The Dera chief wants to stay in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, during the parole, if granted. The jails department had forwarded the Dera chief's parole plea to the office of the Haryana CEO in view of the Model Code being in place for the assembly polls. "As MCC is in place for the elections, that is why it (parole plea) came to us for
Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 21-day furlough, official sources said on Tuesday. During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, they further said. The Sirsa-headquartered Dera sect chief was granted the temporary release days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee's (SGPC) petition against Singh's temporary release. The high court on August 9 observed that a plea for temporary release by the Dera chief should be considered by the competent authority without any "arbitrariness or favouritism". In June, Singh moved the high court and sought directions to grant him a 21-day furlough. On February 29, the high court directed the Haryana government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission. He had been granted a 50-day parole on January 19. Singh is serving a 20-year sentence f
Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted 50-day parole, official sources said on Friday. The parole comes two months after the Sirsa-headquartered sect chief had walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on November 21 last year after he was granted a 21-day furlough -- his third temporary release from jail in 2023. During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat. Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples. The Dera chief had walked out of the Sunaria jail on a 30-day parole on July 30, 2023, while he was granted a 40-day parole in January last year as well. In October 2022 too, he was granted a 40-day parole. Before that, he had come out of prison on a month-long parole in June 2022. Besides, he was granted a three-week furlough on February 7, 2022. In 2021, the Dera chief, along with four others, was also convicted for hatc