Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Gets 16th Release Since 2017 Conviction; Has Spent Over 400 Days Outside Jail

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has again left Sunaria Jail in Rohtak after Haryana authorities granted 30 days’ parole, marking the 16th temporary release since the August 2017 conviction in the Sadhvi sexual assault case and taking the total time spent outside prison to around 436 days.

Prison records show Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, registered as Convict 8647/C, is serving a 20-year sentence in the sexual assault case yet has repeatedly received temporary release on parole or furlough. A 40-day parole in January 2026 ended with a return to Sunaria Jail on February 15, before this latest 30-day release.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh parole pattern and cumulative days out

According to official data, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s temporary exits have steadily increased in length over the years. The current 30-day parole adds to 406 earlier days outside custody. These frequent releases have drawn criticism from political opponents and raised questions about security arrangements whenever the Dera Sacha Sauda chief goes out.

The Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022, underpins these repeated paroles and furloughs for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The legislation allows qualifying prisoners to seek as much as 70 days’ parole and 21 days’ furlough each calendar year, subject to approval from the competent state authority overseeing such applications.

Dera Sacha Sauda chief parole timeline since conviction

On this occasion, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh exited Sunaria Jail at about 6:34 am, with only limited visible security near the gate. Advocate Jitendra Khurana confirmed the decision, telling ANI, “He has got the parole today. It has been given by the competent authority of the state. He has been granted parole for 30 days.”

Khurana further stated that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief plans to remain at the sect’s Sirsa headquarters during this period, saying, “He will stay in his Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, during the parole.” Authorities have not publicly detailed additional security steps near Sirsa, where followers usually gather during these temporary releases.

Prison officials list 16 separate temporary releases for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh since 2020, ranging from a 12‑hour visit to multi‑week paroles. The breakdown of these periods, based on official records, is presented below.

India Today has reported that Haryana authorities continue to treat Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s separate convictions as conspiracy cases instead of categorising them as serial killings. This classification keeps the Dera Sacha Sauda chief within the eligibility criteria for standard temporary release benefits under the 2022 Act, despite multiple serious criminal convictions.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh parole context and other criminal cases

Alongside the Sadhvi sexual assault conviction, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has faced several other criminal trials. On March 7, the Punjab and Haryana high court overturned the 2019 Special CBI court judgment that had sentenced the Dera Sacha Sauda chief to life imprisonment for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati.

Prosecutors had alleged that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh ordered the killing of Ramchandra Chhatrapati because the journalist’s newspaper carried reports critical of the Dera leadership. The Special CBI court had also sentenced three others, Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal, to life imprisonment and imposed fines of ₹50,000 each on all the four convicts.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal later acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in that case. Earlier in 2024, the Punjab and Haryana high court also cleared the Dera Sacha Sauda chief and four co‑accused in the 2002 murder of former Dera official Ranjit Singh, who was shot dead on July 10, 2002, while working in fields near village Khanpur Kolian in Kurukshetra.

With the latest parole, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh remains a convicted prisoner in the Sadhvi sexual assault matter but stands acquitted in the two murder cases decided by the Punjab and Haryana high court, while continuing to receive temporary release under Haryana’s prison law framework for good conduct prisoners.