Haryana: Rape convict Ram Rahim gets 9th parole in 4 years

Serving a jail term for raping two women, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted parole yet again by the BJP-led government in Haryana.

The controversial dera head has been released for 50 days, making it Ram Rahim Singh’s seventh parole in the last couple of years, and ninth in the last 4 years. He was given parole on three occasions, adding up to 91 days, last year. He was released for 21 days in November, 30 days in July, and 40 days starting January 21 - to attend former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh’s birth anniversary.

Singh was spotted “celebrating” the occasion by cutting a birthday cake with a sword. In a video that was widely shared online Rahim Singh was seen slashing the cake and declaring, “Got a chance after five years to celebrate like this... so I should cut at least five cakes. This is the first cake!”

The public display of weapons (cutting a cake with a sword falls in that category) is prohibited under the Arms Act. In 2022 too, the BJP-ruled Haryana had given Singh parole thrice. In October, he was released for 40 days, in June he was released for a month, and, in February, he was released for 21 days. He was also given parole once each in 2021 and 2020 - to visit his mother.

Ram Rahim Singh was convicted by a special CBI court in Haryana's Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women.