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Journalism of Courage
The Haryana government late on Tuesday granted a 20-day parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh even as the Election Commission set stringent terms including a ban on his entry in Haryana, delivering public speeches or indulging in any political activity. The parole to Singh, serving a 20-year sentence in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail for raping two of his disciples, comes four days before Haryana votes on October 5.
On Wednesday morning, Singh walked out of jail after Rohtak divisional commissioner Sanjeev Verma approved his parole application. A senior officer told The Indian Express: “As per the jail manual, a prisoner can be released anytime after 6 am following approval of his parole. In this case too, he was released just few minutes after 6 am.” He will be staying at his dera in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat during the parole period.
Earlier, the jails department had forwarded the parole plea to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pankaj Agarwal in view of the Model Code of Conduct being in place for the Assembly polls.
The CEO had asked the state government to detail “the emergent and compelling circumstances” for dear chief’s release on parole during the poll process. The state government informed the CEO that the parole plea by dera chief mentioned the death anniversary of his father on October 5, critical health condition of a few near and dear ones, and a blood donation camp that was to be organised as reasons.
The CEO on Monday said the state government “may consider the case for grant of parole” to dera chief “subject to the correctness of the facts mentioned in his plea and satisfying other conditions with respect to the Model Code”.
In a letter to additional chief secretary, Haryana Jail Department, the CEO said that the parole will be subject to the conditions that he will not visit Haryana, will not make any public speech or indulge in any political activity during this period.
“Further, a strict watch should be kept on the movement of convict and it should be ensured that he does not indulge in any election-related activity. If he is found indulging in any objectionable activity, his parole should be cancelled forthwith,” the letter warned.
Earlier, murdered journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati’s son Anshul Chhatrapati had moved the Election Commission urging it to direct the Haryana government to cancel dera chief’s parole plea insisting that releasing him ahead of the Assembly elections would be a violation of the democratic values as he “can influence the voters by sending messages to his devotees to benefit a particular political party”
A CBI Special Judge in Panchkula in 2019 had held dera chief and three others guilty of conspiracy to commit murder of journalist Chhatrapati 16 years ago and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
In the past, some of Singh’s paroles and furloughs have coincided with elections in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. In August this year, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted three weeks’ furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.
According to Anshul, since 2020, the dera chief has been given parole or furlough several times facilitating his stay outside the jail for 255 days.
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