Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh gets 30-day parole, 16th since 2020

VIDEO | Rohtak, Haryana: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim granted 30-day parole. Visuals of him leaving from Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail.#HaryanaNews #RamRahim

(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/nFrdxLwKgX

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 26, 2026

Ram Rahim last walked out of prison on January 5 on a 40-day parole. Before that, he got a 40-day parole on August 5, 2025, to celebrate his birthday on August 15.

In April 2025, he was released on a 21-day furlough. In January, 2025, he was released on a 30-day parole a week before the Delhi Assembly elections, and stayed at the Dera’s headquarters in Sirsa. In earlier instances, when he was out of jail, he mostly remained at the Dera’s ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat and twice at Sirsa.

In August 2017, a Panchkula court found him guilty on two counts of rape and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. The court also ordered him to pay a fine of Rs. 15 lakh to each victim.

Reacting to the conviction, his followers went on a rampage and entered into a fierce clash with the armed forces. The confrontation resulted in the deaths of over 40 people in Panchkula and Sirsa. The Dera chief was airlifted in a chopper from Panchkula and taken to Rohtak’s Sunaria prison.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh first came out of prison on October 24, 2020 (1-day parole); then on May 21, 2021 (12-hour parole to meet his ailing mother); February 7, 2022 (21-day furlough); June 2022 (30-day parole); October 14, 2022 (40-day parole). He was then released on January 21, 2023 (40-day parole); July 20, 2023 (30-day parole); November 21, 2023 (21-day furlough); January 19, 2024 (50-day furlough); August 13, 2024 (21-day furlough); October 2, 2024 (20-day parole); January 28, 2025 (30-day parole); April 9 2025 (21-day furlough) and August 5, 2025 (40-day parole).

Acquittals and conviction

In March, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Ram Rahim Singh in the high-profile murder of a journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati, in 2002. In May 2024, he and four others were cleared in the killing of former sect manager Ranjit Singh, with the court citing flaws in the investigation.

In May 2024, he and four others were cleared in the killing of former sect manager Ranjit Singh, with the court citing flaws in the investigation.

The Dera chief is currently serving consecutive convictions of 10 years rigorous imprisonment each for raping two of his disciples. He was convicted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula in August 2017.

Pending cases

Ram Rahim Singh is facing another case for allegedly being involved in enforcing the castration of hundreds of his followers. He has denied the charges. In October 2018, he was granted bail by the Panchkula CBI court.

In October, 2024, the Supreme Court lifted an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that stayed the trial of the Dera chief in three cases from 2015 related to the alleged sacrilege of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy text of the Sikhs.