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The Parole Paradox: How India Outdoes the World in Forgiving a Rapist-Murderer While Taiwan Builds the Future
News arrived that Taiwan’s total market capitalisation has left India behind – all because of a single company. If someone wants to rub salt into your wounds with that fact, tell them this: India has already set a world record by granting 435 days of parole in eight years to a convict serving a life sentence for rape and murder. Taiwan may have a global semiconductor giant, but it does not have a Ram Rahim. And that, dear reader, is a uniquely Indian achievement.
Wherever you look, the system is punctured. Leaks pour in from every seam. Forget competing with Taiwan; it feels like a monumental task just to hold a fair examination. Many are saying that by repeatedly freeing Ram Rahim, India’s administrative and judicial machinery has turned itself into a laughing stock. But is anyone really laughing? I do not think so. If the system believed it was being mocked, would it hand out parole again and again with such nonchalance? The real joke is not on the judiciary – it is on the very idea that anyone expects accountability anymore.
The Mathematics of Parole: How a Murderer-Rapist Spent 435 Days 'Out'
Ram Rahim, the chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, was convicted in 2017 for rape and murder. Since October 2020, he has been stepping out of jail as if on a scheduled vacation. He came out for 21 days of furlough, then 40 days of parole, then again and again. By August 2023, he had been granted parole 14 times, accumulating 366 days of freedom. He celebrated his 58th birthday on 15 August – India’s Independence Day – on a 40-day parole, sanctifying the date with his presence. This year, after returning from a 40-day parole in February, he is back on a 30-day parole in May. Total: 435 days outside prison in just eight years.
| Period | Duration | Occasion / Remark |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2020 – mid 2023 (multiple spells) | 366 days (cumulative) | Furlough and parole; 14 episodes |
| 15 Aug 2023 | 40 days | 58th birthday celebration |
| Feb 2025 | 40 days | Parole (returned to jail afterwards) |
| May 2025 | 30 days | Fresh parole; ongoing |
| Total parole/furlough days in 8 years | 435 days | |
On 7 March this year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Ram Rahim in the murder case of journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati, setting aside his life imprisonment. Chhatrapati, who ran a newspaper called ‘Poora Sach’, was shot five times outside his home in 2002. India’s media remains silent on the killing of a fellow journalist – that is the bonus of being a ‘godi media’ (lapdog media), you never have to burden yourself with speaking the truth.
Bail Denied, Parole Granted: The Two Faces of Indian Justice
While a convicted rapist-murderer roams with sirens blaring, students and activists rot in jail for years without bail. Look at the cases of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam – their bail hearings dragged on as if the republic faced a constitutional emergency. The Bhima Koregaon accused, from professors to lawyers, spent years fighting for bail in high courts and the Supreme Court; some got relief only after prolonged torment. For Umar Khalid, even bail remains elusive. But when Ram Rahim steps out, the judiciary appears guilt-free, lighter, as if its credibility does not matter at all.
Petrol Bachao, Convoy Badao: The Prime Minister’s Appeals vs. the Reality of Power
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeals to citizens to reduce petrol and diesel consumption. Soon after, a video from Lucknow shows judicial officers cycling to court to save fuel. Yet Ram Rahim exits jail in a 10-car convoy, horns blaring, luxury vehicles reportedly costing Rs 2 crore each. His conviction for heinous crimes has done nothing to dent his swagger. He drives like an uncrowned king, and the government that preaches fuel conservation watches in silence.
The Taiwan Lesson: Chips, Not Paroles, Build Nations
Taiwan, with a population equal to Delhi’s, has pushed India out of the world’s top five stock markets. India fell from fifth to sixth, just as it slipped in the largest economy rankings. We are no longer among Asia’s top three markets either. The engine behind Taiwan’s leap is TSMC – Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company – the world’s largest chipmaker, whose stock surged nearly 49% in a year. Meanwhile, India’s headlines call it ‘Tiny Taiwan’, ignoring that the semiconductor king resides in that tiny nation.
Now compare this with Samsung Electronics of South Korea. Samsung alone commands a market cap of around $1 trillion – more than the combined market cap of India’s top 10 companies (Reliance, HDFC Bank, Airtel, SBI, etc.).
Samsung’s semiconductor division alone is paying a $26.6 billion bonus to 78,000 employees this year because of the AI boom. And how was that bonus secured? Through a union. South Korean workers threatened an 18-day strike, and the company rushed to negotiate. After the deal, Samsung’s shares jumped 8.5%. In India, unions are treated as sinful, and workers are told to be grateful for gig-delivery jobs under the scorching sun. Prime Minister Modi has been talking about a semiconductor mission for years, promising that by 2047 India will have ten major chip units. But in 2026, we are nowhere to be seen in AI or semiconductor manufacturing – only the 2047 dream is shown while exam papers leak and paroles pile up.
The Indian Innovation: Exam Leaks and the Rise of ‘Screen-Sharing Scientists’
Taiwan and Korea create global tech giants; India produces solver gangs that guarantee exam success through screen-sharing. In the SSC GD examination conducted by the central government, candidates were caught with cheating devices in Ranchi and Uttar Pradesh. A Bihar-based gang charged Rs 13 lakh per candidate, promising that the computer would answer everything remotely. Police arrested six aspirants and seized the centre’s computers. In Noida, the Special Task Force nabbed seven men with laptops, mobile phones, and exam documents. They didn’t hack papers – they used screen-sharing technology to solve papers for failing students. Call them scientists, because their innovation has solved the problem of failure for those who refuse to study.
At the same time, examination centres were overbooked: a Kanpur centre with a capacity of 399 issued admit cards to 819 candidates. In Lucknow, the server crashed and students were turned away. Videos of vandalism at centres went viral. And at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam University, a B.Tech semester paper leaked – students were caught with chits containing exact answers to that day’s questions. The exam was cancelled. Investigations are on, as they always are in India – that is the only good thing, the perpetual investigation that changes nothing.
Whose Sentiments Matter? The Arrest of a Food Vlogger and a Dead Animal Near a Temple
In Muzaffarnagar, a YouTuber named Anas Ahmad was arrested because his food vlog accidentally showed a temple. He was reviewing a hotel’s non-vegetarian dishes; while walking through the streets, a shot of a Shiv temple appeared. A Hindutva organisation complained, and the police jailed him. The police themselves posted his forced apology on social media, where he said he was captivated by the beauty of the tricolour on the temple. The next day, they arrested him anyway. Religious sentiments were hurt, they said. What about the sentiments of a young man who now has a criminal record for making a food video?
In Bhilwara, Rajasthan, remains of a dead animal were found outside a temple. Tension flared, Hindu organisations protested, and the police scanned CCTV to find Lokesh Khatik and Hemant Kohli, meat traders whose sack had accidentally dropped some pieces. They had not done it deliberately. If they hadn’t been identified, an innocent person – likely from a minority community – would have been picked up and thrown into jail. How easy it has become to fling something in front of a place of worship and set a locality on fire. The whole country seems busy stoking tension.
A Father’s Scream in Patna: The Collapse of Safety
A father from Begusarai came to Patna with his daughter for her polytechnic exam. At night, the hotel door opened; a drunk staff member entered and tried to drag the girl out. The father woke up, screamed, and later filed a complaint. The CCTV was not working at the time – an investigation is on, of course. Satyendra Kumar, one accused, has been arrested. The father’s sobbing interviews on social media reveal a nation where safety is a myth, and the only thing guaranteed is an investigation that leads nowhere.
Conclusion: A Country Where Ram Rahim’s Future Is Secure, Yours Is Not
Taiwan’s TSMC, South Korea’s Samsung, Norway’s trillion-dollar pension fund – these are built on skill, innovation, and labour rights. India’s headlines are built on paroles, paper leaks, and the arrest of food vloggers. The Prime Minister should formally declare a festival every time Ram Rahim steps out; the nation should cook kheer-puri and celebrate the freedom of a convicted rapist-murderer. After all, what remains to be destroyed? The youth’s dreams are scattered on the streets, young men turn into cockroaches or disciples of babas, and the media ticks off a ready-made graphic chart every time the parole counter updates. A person’s ability to make the entire system bend is the real story of Ram Rahim. Taiwan may have chips, but we have perfected the art of surrender.
Criticisms
- The Modi government’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ is a cruel joke when it cannot ensure a single fair, leak-free examination in 2026.
- The Prime Minister remains silent on Ram Rahim’s repeated paroles, exposing a tacit partnership with criminal godmen for electoral arithmetic.
- The judiciary has become a turnstile for the powerful: it acquits Ram Rahim in a journalist’s murder while keeping students and activists in jail without bail for years.
- The ‘godi media’ has abandoned its duty, reducing journalism to a propaganda tool that ignores the killing of a fellow journalist and turns parole data into lifeless graphics.
- Police forces across states act as the enforcement wing of Hindutva sentiments, arresting food vloggers and meat traders while a rapist’s convoy speeds past with sirens.
- Central exam agencies like SSC and CBSE are so rotten that every exam season brings a new leak, yet no minister resigns and no systemic reform arrives.
- The BJP’s politics of religious polarisation has turned every temple, mosque, and street corner into a potential riot site, while the youth survive on delivery gigs and broken ambitions.
- The government boasts of semiconductor missions and AI dreams, but its industrialists are better known for capturing companies with state help than for building globally competitive products.
— Ravish Kumar
See All News by Ravish Kumar « Previously A Related Aug 2020 Post
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