Dera Sacha Sauda chief's parole followed standard jail manual: Haryana Minister

Sirsa (Haryana) [India], January 19 : After Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was granted 50-day parole, Haryana Cabinet Minister Chaudhary Ranjit Singh Chautala said that parole followed standard jail manual procedures. He stated that all prisoners, including Ram Rahim, are entitled to 70 days' parole and 30 days furlough, with parole being optional for the prisoner.
While talking to media at his residence in Sirsa, Chaudhary Ranjit Singh Chautala said, "According to the rules of the jail manual, any prisoner is given parole for 70 days and furlough for 30 days. Furlough is given only once. Parole can be taken twice. It is the choice of the prisoner. There are 23 to 24,000 prisoners in the jails of Haryana and there are the same rules for all. A prisoner who has been sentenced to 7 years can apply through the District Magistrate."
"The application of those whose punishment is more than 7 years is taken by the Divisional Commissioner. Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been sentenced to more than 7 years and the new year has started. An application reached him from the Divisional Commissioner and he was granted parole and released today at 5:30 pm," added Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala.
Earlier on Friday, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year-jail term in Rohtak's Sunaria jail for raping two disciples, was granted 50-day parole. This comes just 29 days after he walked back into Rohtak's Sunaria jail after spending 21 days out on a furlough.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is convicted in a rape case got furlough for three weeks on November 20, an official statement said.
He has been incarcerated since 2017 in Haryana's Sunaria jail where he is serving a 20-year term for raping two women disciples at his ashram's headquarters in Sirsa.
Furlough is a type of leave from the prison. The period is for 14 days in a year but the extension may be granted citing certain reasons after an application is submitted to the prison superintendent. Earlier Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers.
CBI had registered the case on the orders passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2003 and taken over the investigation of the case earlier registered at Police Station Sadar in Kurukshetra.
It was alleged that Ranjit Singh, a resident of village Khanpur Kolian, Kurukshetra was murdered on July 10, 2002, when he was working in his fields at village Khanpur Kolian of District Kurukshetra in Haryana.
After a thorough investigation, CBI filed a charge sheet in 2007 against six accused and charges were framed in 2008 while, on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with former Dera manager Ranjit Singh's murder case.