Rape convict and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 21-day furlough and walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana, on Wednesday morning. After his release, the self-styled godman went straight to the Dera headquarters in Sirsa, where he is expected to stay during his furlough, as per PTI.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim is currently serving a 20-year sentence handed down in 2017. Despite the serious charges, he has been granted multiple paroles and furloughs over the years. This marks his second temporary release in 2025, he was earlier given a 30-day parole in January, just ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections.

In October last year, the Dera chief received a 20-day parole just four days before the Haryana Assembly elections. Similar temporary releases have been seen in the past, often coinciding with elections in Punjab, Haryana, and nearby states.

The Dera Sacha Sauda, based in Sirsa, commands a large following, especially across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and several other states. In August last year, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He had also received a three-week furlough starting February 7, 2022,  just two weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections, according to reports.

In a recent court decision, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in May last year acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, citing “tainted and sketchy” investigations.
Singh had earlier been sentenced to life imprisonment by a special CBI court for his role in the nearly two-decade-old murder case. The court held him guilty of plotting the crime along with his co-accused. Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), have repeatedly criticised the frequent paroles and furloughs granted to the rape convict.

You might also be interested in-Gurmeet Ram Rahim granted 30-day parole ahead of Delhi elections