Ram Rahim out on parole again: The curious link between elections & Dera chief's furloughs

The Dera chief is serving a 20-year sentence since 2017 for the rape of two disciples

Just days before the assembly polls in Haryana, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh yet again walked out of the Sunaria jail in Rohtak on a 20-day parole.

He is now staying at the Dera ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat and has been asked not to enter Haryana.

But the frequency and timing of paroles granted to Singh have been raising eyebrows for long.

The Dera chief is serving a 20-year sentence since 2017 for the rape of two disciples. In the last 7 years, he has been out of prison multiple times.

He is currently out on his 15th parole in just 7 years of his term in jail. By the completion of his current parole period, his time spent outside of jail would total to as many as 275 days.

Moreover, Ram Rahim’s paroles have often coincided with significant electoral events, including Assembly, Lok Sabha, and panchayat elections, particularly in states like Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Here are a few examples:

• As recently as August this year, he was granted a 21-day furlough in the run up to Haryana assembly polls. The parole ended on September 2.
• Before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, a 50-day parole was issued to him on January 19.
• Ram Rahim walked out of the jail in November 2023 just ahead of the Assembly polls in Rajasthan
• In July 2023, he was given a 30-day parole around the time of Haryana panchayat elections
• The Dera chief had also secured release in October 2022 ahead of the assembly bypolls in Adampur, Punjab
• He got 30 days of parole in June 2022 before the Haryana municipal elections
• He was granted three weeks’ furlough from February 7, 2022 barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls

So this is the second parole for Ram Rahim ahead of the October 5 Haryana elections.

The Dera chief commands a substantial support base across 26 Assembly constituencies in Haryana, spanning six districts. These are Fatehabad, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, Karnal and Hisar.

Reportedly, Dera Sacha Sauda, the socio-spiritual organisation headquartered in Sirsa, boasts a following of 1.25 crore devotees. Among its 38 branches, more than half—21 to be precise—are situated in Haryana alone, according to a report by India Today.

The jail department had forwarded the Dera chief’s parole plea to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer in view of the Model Code being in place for the assembly polls.

The Haryana Congress, too, wrote to Election Commission of India against Ram Rahim’s temporary parole, saying the sect chief could influence voters in the election.

The letter said that Ram Rahim has got a mass following as religious preacher and requested that he may not be granted parole during operation of Model Code of Conduct. But Haryana authorities accepted his parole request.

According to the parole conditions, the sect chief will not take part in any election-related activity or deliver public speeches and will stay out of Haryana during the period.

While the Election Commission has set stringent terms for Ram Rahim’s parole, it is hard to overlook Ram Rahim's deep political connections.

The Dera chief is known for having political connections that span across various party lines. His son’s father-in-law is Harminder Jassi, a three-time Congress MLA, who switched to the BJP this May during the Lok Sabha elections.

Some BJP leaders have also courted controversy for attending his online satsangs. The Dera chief has also endorsed BJP in the past.

Going by his massive following, it seems that political parties cannot afford to alienate the Dera followers. It remains to be seen how his latest parole impacts the current elections in Haryana.

Election to the 90-member Haryana assembly will take place on October 5 and the results will be announced on October 8.