Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal slammed the Haryana government for granting parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh who is serving a jail term after being convicted of rape and murder cases.
"Ram Rahim is a rapist and murderer. He is given life imprisonment by Court but Haryana government gives him parole whenever they want. He is organising 'Satsang' and the deputy speaker and Mayor of the Haryana government are attending these events," the DCW chief said.
However, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar earlier on Wednesday said he has "no role" in the parole granted to the Dera chief.
She further claimed that the leaders who attended his Satsang were Ram Rahim's decent devotees.
Ms Maliwal further appealed to the Haryana government to cancel Ram Rahim's parole and sentence him to jail.
Ram Rahim Singh on October 19 organized a virtual 'Satsang' which was attended by many political leaders including the Karnal Mayor and many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, sparking a fresh controversy.
Dera Sacha chief Ram Rahim was recently released from the Sunaria jail on 40-day parole.
The decision to grant Ram Rahim parole ahead of the Adampur bypoll in Haryana on November 3 and the panchayat elections has triggered a furore.
Rahim was granted parole for a month on June 17. 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. Earlier in February, the Dera chief was granted three weeks' leave.
While parole means the release of a prisoner either temporarily for a special purpose or completely before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour, a furlough is a short-term temporary release of convicts from jail. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers.
While, on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with former Dera manager Ranjit Singh's murder case.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
