Punjab And Haryana High Court Upholds Haryana Govt's Decision To Release Gurmeet Singh On Furlough For 21 Days

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday upheld the move of the Haryana Government to release Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Furlough (for a period of three weeks from February 7 to February 27).

Essentially, the Bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh was dealing with a petition moved before the High Court challenging the Government's decision to release Gurmeet Singh on Furlough in the middle of the Punjab Assembly elections.

The contentions made in the plea

A specific challenge had been made to his release in derogation of Section 5-A of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1988 by the petitioner, one Paramjit Singh Saholi. In his plea, the petitioner had specifically argued that Gurmeet Singh's release would affect the election process and also the peace of the State of Punjab.

It was submitted that Gurmeet Singh was undergoing sentence in a rape case as well as in a murder case and thus, he fell under the category of the "hardcore prisoner" as per  Section 2(aa)(i)(8) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (Temporary Release) Amendment Act, 2013 and therefore, since he had not completed the requisite period for grant of furlough, he should not have been granted furlough.

On the other hand, the State counsel justified the grant of furlough by arguing that Gurmit Ram Rahim is not convicted of a substantive offence under Section 302 IPC, rather he has been sentenced with the aid of Section 120-B IPC and his case does not fall in any of the subsections of Section 2(aa) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Amendment Act, 2013. 

Court's observations 

Finding justification in the argument put forth by the counsel for the Haryana State, the Bench, at the outset, stressed that Gurmit Ram Rahim was granted furlough for 21 days and he had completed the same and has returned to the jail premises, therefore, at this stage, more or less, the writ petition had become infructuous.

Further, holding that the respondent-State had rightly interpreted the import of Section 2(aa) of the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoner (Temporary Release) Amendment Act, 2013, the Court remarked thus:

"The Statute identifies an offence of murder simpliciter and not a conspiracy to murder or abetment thereof. The conviction of Gurmit Ram Rahim is not directly under Section 302 IPC, rather the same is with the aid of Section 120-B IPC. Had the intention of legislature been to include aiding offence under Section 120-B IPC for the purpose of defining hardcore prisoner, the language of Amendment Act of 2013 would have been different altogether. It has been excluded in the definition clause of hardcore prisoner. Cases of Section 120-B IPC are consciously excluded and the Legislature was very much alive to the situation, in which Section 120-B IPC has been excluded. The words used in an Act cannot be used or interpreted loosely and inappropriately, rather the same are to be given true meaning, importance and are to be correctly and exactly used."

With the abovesaid observations, the Court disposed of the plea.

It may be noted that Gurmeet is presently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa. Last year, Gurmeet was sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI Court, Panchkula in the Ranjit Singh murder case. In 2019, he was also convicted for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.

On February 22, he was given Z-plus security cover during his 21-day release on furlough due to a high-level threat to his life from "pro-Khalistan" elements.

Gurmeet had applied for 42-day parole on January 17 on the ground that he had to attend to his ailing mother and to meet his relatives. Thereafter, pursuant to a positive opinion of the Haryana Advocate General regarding his release, he was released by the State Government on February 7 for a 3-week period.

Case title - Paramjit Singh Saholi v. State of Haryana and others

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (PH) 60

Click Here To Read/Download Order