On Friday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that the Haryana government is now free to grant parole to Dera Sacha Sauda Chief and convicted rapist and murderer Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022 [Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee v. State of Haryana and others].
Previously, in February of this year, the High Court had restricted the State from granting parole to the Dera Chief without its permission.
With the latest order, the previous restriction on granting parole or furlough to Ram Rahim has been effectively lifted.
A division bench, consisting of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal, dismissed the petition filed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in 2023, which had challenged the alleged misuse of law in granting temporary release to the Dera Chief.
The Court stated that the State had correctly applied the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, to grant parole to the Dera Chief.
“It is crystal clear that the Act of 2022 has rightly been applied by the State of Haryana while considering and deciding the application of parole filed by respondent No.9,” the Court observed.
The Court rejected the argument that the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988, should have been applied in Ram Rahim’s case.
Additionally, the Court questioned the need to address the merits of the case, noting that the 40-day parole period granted to Ram Rahim had already ended in March 2023.
“Undisputedly, respondent No.9 has since surrendered and is lodged in jail. Although the State of Haryana in its response has provided data detailing various periods and dates on which the benefit of temporary release was extended to respondent No.9, this Court refrains from considering the justifiability of these temporary releases since the challenge to Annexure P-1 has become moot due to the expiration of the parole period granted via Annexure P-1,” the Court stated.
Regarding any future applications for temporary release by Ram Rahim, the Court remarked, “This Court would also not like to comment upon the possibility of any breach in law and order/public order on the temporary release of respondent No.9 in the future since any such attempt would lead to venturing into the arena of assumptions and presumptions.”
However, the Court added that any future applications for temporary release would be considered “strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 2022 without the competent authority indulging in arbitrariness, favoritism, or discrimination.”
According to data previously presented before the High Court, Ram Rahim was released for 91 days each in 2022 and 2023.
Ram Rahim was first convicted of rape in 2017 by a Panchkula Court and sentenced to consecutive ten-year terms for the rape of two victims. In 2019, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2021, he was again convicted in another murder case and received a life sentence.
The repeated granting of parole by the Haryana government in his favor has drawn criticism from various quarters.
Meanwhile, the Court also ordered the registration of a separate Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding the development of a digital application for managing temporary release of prisoners.
“The Court, through its order dated 13.10.2023, had expanded the scope of this Public Interest Litigation to include the aspect of developing a digital app at every district level where applications for furlough or parole by inmates can be registered, and the process of granting furlough or parole should be uploaded on that application,” the Court ordered.
