Punjab and Haryana High Court lifts bar on grant of parole to Gurmeet Ram Rahim

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday said that the Haryana government would be free to grant parole under Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, to Dera Sacha Sauda Chief and rape and murder convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh [Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee v. State of Haryana and others]..The High Court had in February this year restrained the State from granting parole to Dera Chief without its permission. With Friday's order, the bar on grant of parole/ furlough to Ram Rahim by earlier order has effectively been lifted. A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Anil Kshetarpal today disposed of the petition moved by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) in 2023 against alleged misuse of law in grant of temporary release to Dera Chief..The Court on Friday ruled that the State had rightly applied the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022 to grant benefit to the Dera Chief."It is crystal clear that the Act of 2022 has rightly been applied by the State of Haryana while considering and deciding the application of parole filed by respondent No.9."It rejected the argument that Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988 should have been applied in Ram Rahim's case..The Court also questioned why it should dwell upon the merits of the matter when the period of parole of 40 days granted to him was over in March 2023 itself."Undisputedly, respondent No.9 has since surrendered and is lodged in jail. Though the State of Haryana in its response has furnished data describing various periods and the dates on which the benefit of temporary release was extended to respondent No.9 but this Court refrains from considering the justifiability of these temporary releases since the cause of challenge to Annexure P-1 has become infructuous due to the expiry of period of parole granted vide Annexure P-1," the Court said..With regard to any future applications for temporary release by Ram Rahim, the Court said,"This Court would also not like to comment upon the possibility of any breach in law & order/public orders on temporary release of respondent No.9 in the future since any such attempt would lead to venturing the arena of assumptions & presumptions."However, it added that in case of any application is made by him for temporary release, the same shall be considered "strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 2022 without the competent authority indulging in arbitrariness or favoritism or discrimination.".According to the data presented previously before the High Court, Ram Rahim was released for 91 days each in 2022 and 2023..Ram Rahim was first convicted in a case of rape in 2017 by a Panchkula Court and sentenced to consecutive imprisonment of ten years each for rape of two victims. In 2019, he was convicted in a case of conspiracy for murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2021, he was again convicted in another murder case and sentenced to life.The repeated grant of parole in his favour by Haryana government has received criticism from various quarters..Meanwhile, the Court today also ordered registration of a separate Public Interest Litigation regarding preparation of a digital application with regard to temporary release of prisoners.“That this Court vide order dated 13.10.2023 had enlarged the scope of this Public Interest Litigation to include the aspect of preparation of digital app at every district level where applications made for grant of furlough/parole by all the inmates can be registered and the process of grant of furlough/parole should be uploaded on that application,” it ordered. [Read Order]