Asaram Bapu Bail: The Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 7) granted interim bail to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu on medical grounds. The apex court has directed Asaram not to meet his followers after his release on interim bail. The Supreme Court has granted interim bail to self-styled godman Asaram till March 31 on medical grounds in the 2013 rape case. The Supreme Court has directed 85-year-old Asaram Bapu not to tamper with evidence and meet his followers after his release.
Asaram Bapu was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jodhpur court for raping a teenage girl in his ashram. In 2023, he was convicted by a Gujarat court on charges of raping a female disciple at his ashram on multiple occasions in 2013. Asaram has been granted parole from time to time to go to Pune, where he is undergoing treatment.
Bapu is currently undergoing treatment at Arogya Medical Center in Jodhpur. He is serving his sentence in Jodhpur Central Jail. Asaram was arrested by Jodhpur Police on August 31, 2013 in a rape case. Since then he is in jail. A teenage girl had accused him of sexual harassment at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur. The girl, resident of Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was a student of the ashram.
According to the medical report, Asaram is a heart patient. He has suffered a heart attack before also. The Supreme Court has directed that law enforcement officials be deployed during his bail period to ensure surveillance. This bail order of the Supreme Court comes after Asaram returned to Jodhpur jail in Rajasthan, six days after his release on 17-day parole.
Bapu got relief from the Supreme Court, a few days after he was granted parole for 17 days on December 18 last month. He returned to Jodhpur jail on 1 January. In August last year, Rajasthan High Court had also given him parole for seven days for treatment.
Also read- Delhi Assembly election dates announced, BJP-AAP both stake claim to form government
In April 2018, a Jodhpur court had sentenced Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a minor in his ashram in 2013. Later, his two associates were also sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court in the same case.