Jodhpur:

The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail till March 31 to self-styled godman Asaram, who is serving life imprisonment in a 2013 rape case. This comes a week after the Supreme Court granted him bail till March 31 in another rape case, observing that he suffered from various ailments and needed treatment.

Soon after the top court granted him relief on medical grounds, Asaram’s counsels moved a suspension of sentence plea in the high court.

A division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vineet Kumar Mathur granted interim bail to Asaram considering that the nature of the plea was similar to the one filed in the Supreme Court.

“We argued that the plea was similar in nature to that filed in the Supreme Court and the grounds stand valid in this case as well,” Asaram’s counsel Nishant Bora said.

He said the conditions for Asaram’s interim bail are the same as those set by the top court on January 7 except one.

“If Asaram wants to travel outside (Jodhpur), he will have to bear the expenses of the three constables who have been asked to accompany him,” Bora said.

A lower court sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in April 2018 for raping a minor at his ashram in Jodhpur in 2013.

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New Delhi:

A week after self-styled godman Asaram returned to prison in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur after 17-day parole, the Supreme Court today granted him interim bail on medical grounds. Asaram, who was convicted in a 2013 rape case, will, however, 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 schoolgirl in his ashram in Jodhpur in 2013. He was later also convicted of raping a woman at his ashram near Gujarat’s Gandhinagar in 2013.

Supreme Court Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal granted him interim bail till March 31 but ordered that he can’t meet his followers after he is released.

The court also told police officers to escort Asaram to hospital, but not dictate where he should go for the treatment.

Asaram’s lawyers requested interim bail on the grounds that he is suffering from serious medical ailments.

He returned to jail on January 1 after his 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 16-year-old in his 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 one of his ashrams, 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 lawyer appearing for Asaram that it would examine the issue only if there were medical grounds.

The Gujarat High Court in August rejected his plea for the suspension of life imprisonment handed 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.