Rape and murder accused Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was seen celebrating by cutting a cake with sword on January 25.
The video of the controversial Dera chief cutting the cake with a sword has not gone over well with people, as a public display of weapons, such as cutting a cake with a sword, is prohibited under the Arms Act.
Tweeting the video, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), Swati Maliwal, said for such acts, a case should be registered under the Arms act.
“Khattar ji, see how the rapist whom you left open in the society is slapping the system. Once great heroes used to protect the weak with the sword, today this rapist is celebrating with the sword. A case is registered under the Arms Act for such acts, but here the entire government is lying on its feet,” Maliwal tweeted in Hindi.
Singh was released on parole five days ago after the court granted him parole for 40 days. He has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for rape and murder.
The Sirsa-Dera chief walked from the Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district on Saturday and arrived at his Barnawa Ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat.
In the video, which appears to be streamed live, one can see people clapping as Singh cuts the cake with a sword while cheerful music plays in the background.
In his bail application, Singh said that he wants to attend an event to mark the birth anniversary of former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh on January 25. The cake was cut to celebrate the former dera chief’s birth anniversary.
A few senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders from Haryana, including Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar and former minister Krishan Kumar Bedi, also participated in a mega cleanliness campaign organised by Dera that was held on January 23.
This is the fourth time in the last 14 months and the second time in less than three months that Ram Rahim has been granted parole. Earlier, he was released on parole for 40 days in October 2022, ahead of the Haryana panchayat election and the Adampur Assembly bypoll.
Ram Rahim was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers. The CBI had registered the case on orders passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2003 and took over the investigation of the case earlier registered at the police station.
It was alleged that former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, a resident of Haryana’s Kurukshetra, was murdered on July 10, 2002, when he was working in his fields at the village of Khanpur Kolian.
After a thorough investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet in 2007 against six accused. Charges were framed in 2008, while, on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with Singh’s murder case.
Following the frequent parole of Ram Rahim, the opposition parties and Sikh organisations have targeted the BJP-led Haryana government in the state.
In 2019-20, Ram Rahim’s six parole applications were rejected. He was granted a day’s parole on October 24 to meet his ailing mother, who was admitted to a hospital in Gurgaon. He was again granted a day’s parole on May 21, 2021, to meet his ailing mother.
In 2022, Ram Rahim remained out of jail for 91 days. He was out on parole for 21 days in February during the Punjab Assembly elections, for 30 days in June during the Haryana municipality elections and for 40 days in October when the bypoll for the Adampur Assembly seat was on and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections were announced.