Parole to Ram Rahim as per law, says Haryana minister

Tribune News Service 

Chandigarh, November 7

Haryana Minister for Power and Prisons Ranjit Singh on Satuday justified one-day parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on October 24, saying it was given as per the law.

“Yes, on October 24 he (Ram Rahim) was allowed to visit his mother who was admitted in a Gurugram hospital,” Singh told media persons when asked to clarify the reasons for parole to the Dera chief.

“There is a provision under the law that in case of an emergency in the family of a convict the prisoner is allowed to visit his family under police protection. He was taken under full police protection after the government had taken into consideration all aspects,” he said.

“You have asked about Babaji (Ram Rahim), but hundreds of prisoners are being given parole daily. There is a law regarding this. We cannot change it,” the minister added.

He said that had Ram Rahim sought parole for a larger period, the government would have taken several factors into consideration, since court cases were still pending against him, but this was for just one day for which the jail superintendent had the powers to allow parole.

Asked was it in his knowledge, Ranjit Singh replied in affirmative and added that he knew from the Day 1.

When a reporter asked whether Ram Rahim would also be allowed to visit his Sirsa dera and residence on parole in future, Ranjit Singh said that the government would consider the request when it comes. 

The Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana on October 24 had granted a day's parole to controversial Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for raping two of his disciples and has been denied bail several times by the courts. 

Sources said that Ram Rahim was granted parole on his wife Harjit Kaur's plea that his mother Naseeb Kaur, 85, suffering from a heart disease was seriously ill. The Dera chief met his mother, who is hospitalised in Gurugram. 

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