High Court puts Haryana on notice on Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s parole plea

Chandigarh, May 20

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday called for an affidavit from the State of Haryana on number of parole pleas rejected citing the law and order situation.

The direction came as the high court issued notice of motion to the States of Punjab and Haryana, along with the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, on Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s plea seeking modification of February 29 order, whereby Haryana was directed not to consider his case for further parole without court’s permission.

In his plea before the Bench of Acting Chief Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji, the dera chief submitted the object of parole and furlough was reformative for enabling the convict to maintain social ties with the family and society.

The applicant had been granted parole in accordance with law and had never violated the release order’s terms and conditions.

The parole granted to him was in complete parity with the convicts similarly placed or even having “a higher degree of conviction”.

“It is submitted that the order dated February 29 is prejudicing the rights of the applicant as he is eligible for parole of 20 more days and furlough of 21 days this year as per the Act and also granted to other similar placed convicts,” it was added.

The matter was argued on dera chief’s behalf by senior advocate Chetan Mittal.