New Delhi:
A week after self-styled godman Asaram returned to Rajasthan’s Jodhpur jail after being released on a 17-day parole, the Supreme Court today granted him interim bail on medical grounds in a 2013 rape case. He, however, will remain in jail as he has to get interim bail in another rape case.
The 83-year-old, whose real name is Asumal Sirumalani Harpalani, was arrested for raping a teenage girl in his ashram in Jodhpur in 2013 and is lodged in a central jail there. He was later also convicted of raping a woman at an ashram near Gujarat’s Gandhinagar in 2013.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal granted him interim bail in the rape case in Jodhpur till March 31 and directed that he can’t meet his followers after he is released.
The top court also told the police officers to only escort Asaram to the hospital and not dictate where he can go for the treatment.
His lawyers, while seeking interim bail, said that he is suffering from serious medical ailments.
He returned to jail on January 1 after his 17-day parole (15 days of parole and 2 days for travelling) ended.
Last year, he took treatment in Pune. He was also admitted to AIIMS Jodhpur after he developed some heart-related ailment.
Asaram’s Rape Case
A court in Jodhpur in 2018 sentenced Asaram to life in prison after finding him guilty of raping a minor in his Jodhpur ashram in 2013. His two accomplices were sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court in the same case.
In January 2023, he was also convicted of raping a woman at an ashram near Gandhinagar in 2013.
The Supreme Court had last year sought a response from the Gujarat government on a plea filed by Asaram seeking suspension of the life sentence imposed on him by a trial court in the 2013 rape case.
The court told the counsel appearing for Asaram that it would examine the issue only if there were medical grounds.
The Gujarat High Court in August last year rejected his plea for the suspension of life imprisonment in the case by a Gandhinagar court in 2023. Refusing to suspend the sentence and grant him bail, the high court had observed that no case for relief was made out.
