Chandigarh, Jun 14: Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking directions to grant him a 21-day furlough.
On February 29, the high court asked the Haryana government not to grant further parole to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief without its permission.
The court then was hearing a petition of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee which had challenged the grant of temporary release to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
Approaching the court for a 21-day furlough, the Dera chief has sought directions to consider and decide the application for furlough under the law under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (Temporary Release) Act 2022, mentioning that an application for furlough has already been made to the authorities concerned, but due to a February 29 order that plea has not been considered.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples and is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district. He was granted a 50-day parole on January 19.
In his latest plea seeking furlough, Singh has mentioned several welfare activities which are carried out by the sect headed by him for which the motivational drive is required to be carried out by him.
The Dera chief is the religious head of the institution Dera Sacha Sauda where, once every two years in June, a “Sewadar Shradhanjali Bhandara” is organised to pay tributes to volunteers who have dedicated their lives to social service and those who have passed away due to accidents and serious ailments to provide help to their grieved families, states the plea.
“It is apt to point out here that so many welfare activities are to be undertaken by Dera Sacha Sauda headed by the applicant (sect chief), i.e., large-scale tree plantation, drug de-addiction, and marriages of poor girls, for which the motivational drive is required to be carried out by the applicant,” the plea stated.
“That it is submitted that grant of parole for 70 days and furlough for 21 days every calendar year is a right bestowed upon the eligible convict by the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022,” stated the plea.
It said rules do not prohibit the grant of parole and furlough to any convicts who have been convicted and sentenced in three or more cases having life term and fixed term sentences.
In the furlough plea, it was further submitted that the grant of parole for 70 days and furlough for 21 days each year to the sect chief has been fully under the relevant statutory provision after following due process of law.
“Out of said period of parole and furlough, 20 days of parole and 21 days of furlough are still pending for consideration by appropriate authorities. It is reiterated that no special treatment has been accorded to the applicant/respondent (sect chief) at any stage,” it has been further submitted.
The plea also mentioned that every time the Dera chief was granted parole and furlough, he always surrendered on time.
