Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Granted 40-Day Parole

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana, on Monday after being granted a 40-day parole, marking the 15th such release since his 2017 conviction for raping two of his disciples. The spiritual leader, serving a 20-year prison term for the crimes committed at the sect's headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana, will spend the parole period at the Dera's main facility there, according to spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana.

This latest parole follows a pattern of temporary releases for Singh, who has been allowed out of prison multiple times in recent years. His most recent prior release was a 40-day parole in August 2025. Earlier, he received a 21-day furlough in April 2025 and a 30-day parole in January 2025, shortly before the February 5 Delhi assembly elections. In October 2024, just days ahead of the October 5 Haryana assembly polls, he was granted a 20-day parole. Additional furloughs included 21 days in August 2024 and three weeks starting February 7, 2022, two weeks before the Punjab assembly elections. On many of these 14 previous occasions, Singh stayed at a Dera ashram in Baghpat district, Uttar Pradesh,...