On rape convict Ram Rahim’s parole, DCW chief makes an appeal to Haryana govt

Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal on Wednesday hit out at the Manohar Khattar-led Haryana government for granting parole to rape accysed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim. She further made an appeal to the Haryana government to revoke his parole

Maliwal said the Dera chief is a rapist and murderer sentenced to life in prison and wondered how could the ruling dispensation in Haryana grant him parole whenever sought.

“Ram Rahim is a rapist and murderer. He is given life imprisonment by the court but the Haryana government gives him parole whenever they want,” Maliwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

“He is organising 'Satsang' and the deputy speaker and mayor are attending these events. I appeal to the Haryana govt to take back his parole,” she further said.

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Khattar said he had no role in the parole granted to the rape and murder convict godman, stating thata jails functioned according to their own rules.

The dera chief, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for raping his two disciples, was recently released on a 40-day parole from Sunaria jail. He had been holding online discourses-satsangs from his Barnawa ashram in Uttar Pradesh, which were attended by a large number of his followers, including several Haryana political leaders.

Recently, he dismissed speculations about who could be his likely successor to lead the Sirsa-based sect. He has also announced renaming his adopted daughter and disciple, Honeypreet, as Ruhani Didi or Ruh-Di.

"Our daughter is called Honeypreet. Since everyone calls her 'didi', it causes confusion as everyone is 'didi'. So we have now named her 'Ruhani Didi' and modernised it to make it easy to pronounce, 'Ruh Di'," the Dera chief wrote on Twitter.

Last year, Ram Rahim was also convicted along with four others of plotting the murder Ranjit Singh, a dera manager. In 2019, he and three others were convicted of the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

(With agency inputs)