Supreme Court grants bail to Asaram Bapu on medical grounds until March 31, directs no contact with followers

The Supreme Court of India (SC) has on January 7 granted bail to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu on medical grounds till March 31 in relation to a 2013 rape case, according to a PTI report.

Further, the apex court has directed Asaram to not meet his followers after he is released on interim bail, it added.

Background for Bail

Earlier on January 1, Asaram returned to Jodhpur jail after being released on a 17-day parole, which began from December 18, according to an ANI report.

He was under treatment in Pune, while serving a life imprisonment sentence at Jodhpur Central Jail in the 2013 sexual assault case. Earlier, Advocate Yaspali Singh Rajpurohit, representing Asaram, spoke to ANI and confirmed that he was lodged in jail as per the High Court's orders.

“The High Court had issued an order that stated that Asaram had to return to jail before January 2 otherwise it would be a contempt of court. He was brought back to the Jodhpur jail today itself,” he said.

Earlier on November 22, 2024, the SC issued notice to the Gujarat govt on a plea filed by self-proclaimed godman Asaram seeking the suspension of the life imprisonment sentence imposed on him by a trial court in a rape case.

The bench said that it would issue notice, but would consider only medical conditions. Counsel appearing for Asaram told the bench that he was suffering from serious medical ailments and sought his interim release from jail.

2013 Rape Case

A sessions court in Gandhinagar, Gujarat in January 2023 convicted Asaram under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in a 2013 rape of a female disciple at a Surat Ashram.

In August, while hearing an appeal against the trial court verdict, the Gujarat High Court declined to suspend his life imprisonment sentence.

Thereafter, Asaram had moved to the top court seeking release from jail.

Asaram was in Indore and brought to Jodhpur for raping a teenage girl in his ashram in 2013. after being arrested.

The girl had reported that she was called to his ashram near Jodhpur and assaulted by him on the night of August 15, 2013.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)