The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder of a journalist, citing a failure by the prosecution to prove its case and questioning the CBI's investigation.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of Dera Sacha Sauda, has been acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana high court in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, a verdict that is being challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of a journalist, overturning a previous conviction by a special CBI court.
On many of the 13 occasions in the past, when Singh was out of jail, he remained at the Dera's ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Bagpat district.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of rape and murder, has been granted a 40-day parole, marking the 15th time he has been released since his conviction in 2017.
This comes months after Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak after being granted a 21-day furlough in April.
Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 21-day furlough.
The Supreme Court has refused to hear a plea by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) challenging the temporary release of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The court noted that Singh's counsel objected to the maintainability of the PIL before the high court, which was disposed of on the ground that it was filed against a single person, Singh. The bench said it was not inclined to consider the present petition. Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.
The court in Panchkula had convicted Ram Rahim and four others -- Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil -- in the murder case on October 8.
The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states.
The Haryana government on Tuesday granted 20-day parole to the sect chief, official sources said.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's former jailer Sunil Sangwan has won the Charkhi Dadri seat in Haryana as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
The 62-year-old former deputy chief minister was first elected the party president in 2008. His re-election at the outfit's general delegate session in Amritsar comes barely four months after he quit after he was declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht for "mistakes" committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its government from 2007 to 2017.
The Dera chief has sought to stay in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh, during the parole period, if granted.
'Insulting the law, instigating violence, living ostentatiously and preaching godliness?' 'This vulgar hypocrisy needs peoples' rejection and a revolt.' 'If people can't speak out, then it will be a hypocrisy that they expect the government to act and speak for them,' says Tarun Vijay.
He was seen wearing a plaque around his neck while sitting in a wheelchair because of a fractured leg.
Was Ram Rahim's release on parole for the 10th time since his conviction in 2017 timed to coincide with the Haryana assembly elections? It does seem so when one considers he has been released mostly when there was an election in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Listing the times that Ram Rahim has been out on parole.
During his temporary release period, Singh will go to the Dera ashram in Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, they further said.
Badal's resignation came days after he urged the Akal Takht Jathedar to pronounce his punishment for religious misconduct charges, saying more than two months have passed since he was declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct).
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's husband Robert Vadra on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was behind Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal being out of jail to campaign in the Haryana polls with an aim of denting the Congress' chances.
The move came days after the Supreme Court vacated the stay imposed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the trial in three sacrilege cases.
Rebel Akali leader Gurpartap Singh Wadala slammed Badal's move, saying instead of showing "a sense of renunciation", he issued a "dictatorial order" aimed to sideline those who want a "change" for strengthening the party
The man, identified as Narain Singh, was overpowered by some people standing outside the Golden Temple.
Pronouncing 'tankhah' (religious punishment) for Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders for the 'mistakes' committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal government in Punjab from 2007 to 2017, the Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht on Monday directed the senior Akali leader to perform as a 'sewadar', and wash dishes and clean shoes at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
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.
The parole comes two months after the Sirsa-headquartered sect chief had walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on November 21 last year after he was granted a 21-day furlough -- his third temporary release from jail in 2023.
Ram Rahim, lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria Jail, is serving a 20-year sentence handed out to him in 2017 for allegedly raping two of his disciples.
They handed the apology letter to Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh at the Akal Takht Secretariat at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Akal Takht is the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs.
Singh is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji was hearing a petition of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee which had challenged the grant of temporary release to the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.
Former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, who was also a follower of the sect, was shot dead in 2002.
According to a police official from Rohtak, Singh returned to Sunaria jail late afternoon.
Haryana Jail Minister Ranjit Singh Chautala also said, "Gurmeet Ram Rahim is like every other prisoner here and he also has his fundamental rights."
The latest parole to the Dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping his two disciples, comes three months after he was granted a similar parole.
The move comes just ahead of the Adampur bypoll, which is scheduled to be held on November 3.
The dera chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two disciples, was granted 40-day parole on January 20.
A special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district on Thursday after he was granted a 30-day parole.
The Sirsa-headquartered sect chief, who is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of the Sunaria prison in Haryana's Rohtak on Saturday after being granted a 40-day parole and reached Barnawa Ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been given Z-plus security cover during his 21-day release on furlough from a Haryana jail where he has been serving a sentence, officials said on Tuesday." a recent communication from a senior Haryana police official to the Rohtak Range commissioner said.
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