Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda and a convicted rapist, has been granted a 21-day furlough, according to official sources on Tuesday. During this period, Singh will visit the dera ashram in Barnawa, located in the Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh.
The temporary release comes shortly after the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a petition from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) challenging Singh’s furlough. On August 9, the court had ruled that any application for temporary release should be evaluated by the appropriate authority without bias or favoritism.
In June, Singh had petitioned the High Court seeking a 21-day furlough. Previously, on February 29, the court had instructed the Haryana government not to grant additional parole to Singh without prior approval. He had previously been granted a 50-day parole starting January 19.
Singh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for the rape of two followers, is currently incarcerated in Sunaria Jail, Rohtak, Haryana. He was convicted in 2017. In addition to his rape convictions, Singh and three others were found guilty in 2019 for the murder of a journalist 16 years earlier.
In May, Singh and four others were acquitted by the High Court in the 2002 murder case of Ranjit Singh, a former manager of the sect, due to what the court described as “tainted and sketchy” investigations. Previously, a special CBI court had sentenced Singh and his co-accused to life imprisonment in that case, finding them guilty of criminal conspiracy.
