Gurmeet Ram Rahim case: High Court seeks status report on paroles

Chandigarh, December 13

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the State of Haryana to specify whether it is maintaining parity in the release of inmates on parole/furlough.

The Bench was hearing a petition filed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee against the States of Punjab and Haryana for quashing impugned order dated January 20 granting temporary relief to Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Ram Rahim returns to jail

• Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh returned to Sunaria prison in Rohtak district after the completion of his 21-day furlough on Wednesday evening
• He is undergoing imprisonment for the rape of two women disciples and murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati

The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta asked the state to furnish a status report regarding the decision taken by the authorities on the parole/furlough pleas of the jail inmates.

The petitioner, through counsel Premjit Singh Hundal, had earlier submitted that the order was passed by “losing sight of the dangerous consequences emanating from unlawful uttering and activities of the respondent-dera chief during the period of parole granted to him vide the impugned order”.

Directions were also sought for ordering immediate arrest of the respondent for lodging him in the jail with “there being no release order in the two murder cases for which he is undergoing life imprisonment in two different FIRs”.

The petitioner added that the respondent was in jail, undergoing sentences under three separate orders by the competent courts. The temporary release order was issued only in one case. The respondent, as such, could not have been released from jail by the Superintendent, Central Jail, Sunaria, Rohtak.

The petitioner said, “Soon after his release from the jail, the respondent has started indulging in provocative activities which may ultimately result into violation of human rights on a large-scale in the State of Punjab.”