Rape convict Ram Rahim gets 21-day furlough

New Delhi, NT Bureau: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was released from prison on Tuesday on a 21-day furlough ahead of his birthday on August 15.

This is the eighth time he has been granted temporary release in the last four years. While a furlough can be given without any reason after serving a stipulated period of time in prison, a prisoner is granted parole based on an urgent demand or need.

Singh has been frequently granted parole in the past four years. On Tuesday, the Dera Sacha Sauda chief was released from the Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district at 6.30 am and will stay in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, according to the newspaper.

Singh was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in 2017 for raping two of his women disciples at the Dera headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa district. In 2021, he and four others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case of Ranjit Singh, a former manager of his sect.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted him in the murder case in May. In June, Singh moved the High Court seeking a 21-day furlough.