Singh is serving a 20-years sentence for raping two disciples and was also convicted in 2019 for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatarapati.
He has been granted parole and furloughs 14 times earlier, many coinciding with state and national elections.
The latest parole allowed Singh to step out of prison for the 15th time. Activist Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam have denied bails by the Supreme court on Monday. Both Khalid and Imam have been jailed for more than five years without the trial.
Rape convict and former 'Dera Sacha Sauda' chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, has been granted another 40-day parole. Singh walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana on Monday. The same day Supreme court of India denied bail to Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam in 2020 Delhi Riots conspiracy case, while granting bail to five others including Gulfisha Fatima.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh - a murder and rape convict is serving a 20-years prison sentence for raping two women disciples. He has been granted another 40-day parole on January 4.
This is the 15th time Singh has been allowed to step out of prison since his conviction in 2017. His latest parole comes months after a similar parole granted in August 2025.
Singh was convicted in 2017 for raping two women disciples and was later found guilty, along with three others for the murder of a journalist Ram Chander Chhatarapti an editor of ‘Poora Sach’ a local daily in Sirsa of Haryana.
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Chhatarapti was the first journalist who exposed the wrongdoings of the ‘Dera Sachha Sauda’ more than two decades ago. He was found shot dead in 2002 outside his residence after publishing an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually abused at Dera Sachha Sauda back then. The Chhatarapti murder case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.
The Panchkula special CBI court convicted and sentenced Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh to life imprisonment in Chhatrapati's murder case in 2019. The sentence was not directed to run concurrently with his earlier sentences in the rape cases.
Despite the serious nature of the convictions, Singh has been repeatedly granted parole and furloughs—often coinciding with election periods.
In 2025 alone, Singh was granted a 30-day parole in January ahead of the Delhi Assembly polls and a 21-day furlough in April. Earlier, he was allowed a 20-day parole in October 2024, days before the Haryana Assembly elections, and a 21-day furlough in August 2024. In February 2022, he was released on furlough just weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.
Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), have consistently criticised the frequent grant of parole and furlough to Singh.
In May 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, citing a “tainted and sketchy” investigation. The acquittal overturned a life sentence awarded earlier by a special CBI court, which had held Singh guilty of orchestrating the murder.
During most of his previous releases, Singh stayed at the Dera’s ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district. The Sirsa-based sect commands a significant following across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states, with a strong presence in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.
"This is the farce and the falling of a legal system, that such convicts of heinous crimes get frequent paroles, while bails are denied to several other under trial prisoners." said Vibhuti Narain Rai, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's 15 Paroles and Furloughs
October 2020 - Parole for a day
May 2021 - Parole for a day
February 2022 - Furlough of 21 days (Coinciding with Punjab Assembly elections held in February 2022)
June 2022 - Parole for 30 days
October 2022 - Parole for 40 days
January 2023 - Parole for 40 days
July 2023 - Parole for 30 days
November 2023 - Furlough for 21 days
January 2024 - Parole for 50 days
August 2024 - Furlough 21 days
October 2024 - Parole for 20 days (Coinciding with Haryana assembly elections held in October 2024)
January 2025 - Parole for 30 days
April 2025 - - Furlough for 21 days
August 2025 - Parole for 40 days
January 2026 - Parole for 40 days
"When Bail, Parole, Furloughs are granted to powerful, influential people who are convicted for heinous crimes but denied to under trial prisoners who have questioned the government or raised human rights issues, it points to a problem with the way cases launched against political activists and human rights defenders are being dealt with by the judiciary. Today, on January 5, the Supreme court denied bail to Umar Khalid; after spending more than five years in jail, when the trail has not begun in the Delhi riots conspiracy case for which Khalid was arrested under UAPA." says Lara Jesani lawyer at the Bombay High court.
Jesani also shares a perspective that sheds light on various aspects of criminal justice system in India.
"How the judiciary use its discretionary power while deciding who will be allowed their liberty, is often imbalanced and seeming increasingly influenced by set narratives." says Jesani.
“Marginalised under trial prisoners languishing in jails, most often Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis and poor who lack all kinds of legal avenues, do not stand a chance in such a system. Their bail hearings suffer delay and even after grant of bails they are unable to get released due to lack of resources - a few thousand rupees as cash bail or not being able to furnish surety. There is a need to scrutinise this clearly unequal right to bail and liberty that we are witnessing today." she adds.
