Controversial self-styled godman and rapist Asaram is ready to stroll out of jail after the Rajasthan excessive court docket on Tuesday granted interim bail until March 31 to the convicted felon on medical grounds in a 2013 rape case, paving the way in which for him to step out of jail after 12 years.
Three police personnel will accompany Asaram to make sure compliance of bail situations. (PTI File Photograph)
The order got here every week after the Supreme Courtroom granted the 83-year-old bail on medical grounds in a separate rape case registered in Gujarat in 2013, observing that he suffered from numerous illnesses and wanted therapy.
“In order to maintain parity, we are inclined to grant interim bail to the applicant up to March 31, 2025, for his medical treatment on the same conditions imposed by the Supreme Court,” a excessive court docket bench of justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinit Kumar Mathur stated in its order, contemplating that the character of the plea was much like the one filed within the prime court docket.
In August 2013, a 16-year-old woman who was staying at Asaram’s Jodhpur ashram alleged that he raped her on the pretext of exorcising her from evil spirits. He was convicted by a trial court docket in April 2018 and sentenced to life in jail.
Then, in December 2013, two sisters in Surat alleged that Asaram and his son Narayan had raped them repeatedly.
A district court docket in Gandhinagar in Gujarat on January 31, 2023 convicted Asaram and his son of rape. It sentenced them to life imprisonment. It was on this case that the Supreme Courtroom granted Asaram interim bail on January 7. His son stays in jail, serving a life sentence.
Quickly after the highest court docket’s order on January 7, Asaram’s counsels RS Saluja and Nishant Bora moved a suspension of sentence plea within the excessive court docket. Throughout the listening to, Saluja and Bora argued that their 86-year-old shopper was affected by extreme age-related illnesses and even suffered two coronary heart assaults. In addition they highlighted that the apex court docket order acknowledged Asaram’s precarious well being and the necessity for exterior medical therapy.
Granting interim reduction, the excessive court docket bench reiterated the strict bail situations imposed by the Supreme Courtroom, together with barring Asaram from assembly his followers in teams. Three police personnel will accompany Asaram to make sure compliance, however they won’t intervene together with his medical therapy, particular person conferences, or lawful actions, the court docket ordered.
The excessive court docket additional stated that Asaram should bear the prices of journey, lodging, and boarding for the accompanying police personnel, in case he seeks therapy exterior Jodhpur. The order reiterated the highest court docket’s stand that the interim bail was granted solely on medical grounds, and it might not have an effect on the deserves of the prison enchantment pending earlier than the Gujarat excessive court docket.
He added: “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.”
On January 7, a prime court docket bench of justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal had famous that Asaram “is in his last leg” and agreed to contemplate his request for non permanent suspension of sentence purely on medical grounds with out going into the deserves of the allegations towards him. “He is on his death bed. Whatever be the nature of the crime, when it comes to health of the convict, the burden rests on the state and the court,” the apex court docket bench had stated.