A public interest litigation (PIL) calling for cancellation of the 40-day regular parole granted to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was “dismissed as withdrawn” by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday. 'Dismissed as withdrawn' means the petitioner has withdrawn the case and it stands closed. The petitioner in this case is Advocate H C Arora. The matter came up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Shanker Jha and Justice Arun Palli. The petitioner had also sought directions to YouTube and other platforms to delete videos uploaded by the dera chief. Ram Rahim was released from Sunaria jail in Rohtak on a 40-day parole on October 15. He is serving a 20-year prison term after being convicted in 2017 of raping two disciples in his Sirsa ashram. In 2019, he was convicted of the murder of a journalist and in 2021 he was convicted of the murder of a manager of his dera. Arora, in his plea, submitted that the grant of regular parole to the dera chief was in violation of provisions of the Haryana Good Conduct of Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act. “The respondent, Gurmeet Singh alias Baba Ram Rahim, is regularly conducting online/virtual satsang from his dera in Bhagpat, UP, and is addressing his followers all over the world. He has also released a video of his new song titled ‘Sadi Nit Diwali’ and uploaded it on YouTube. All these activities are resulting in a serious threat to peace in the neighbouring state of Punjab where people opposed to Ram Rahim are sitting on dharnas outside ‘Nam Charcha Ghars’,” Arora argued before the high court. On Monday, as proceedings were initiated in connection with the case, the State of Haryana filed an affidavit saying it will decide on a representation submitted by Arora on the matter on October 29 this year. According to Haryana state counsel, the Haryana government will decide the said representation within a week, Arora said while speaking to reporters. Satisfied with the undertaking given by the Haryana government, the petitioner withdrew his PIL, which was thereupon dismissed as withdrawn by the division bench.
