The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to grant bail to religious leader Asumal Harpalani, also known as Asaram Bapu, in a 2013 case pertaining to the rape of a minor, Live Law reported.
The court sought a response from the Rajasthan government within three weeks to Asaram’s plea challenging the Rajasthan High Court’s May decision upholding his conviction in the case, according to Bar and Bench.
In April 2018, a sessions court in Jodhpur sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping a minor at his ashram in 2013. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment under several provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.
In May, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted Asaram on charges related to gangrape and sexual assault. However, it upheld his conviction for rape, which carried the punishment of life imprisonment.
While rejecting Asaram’s petition to set aside the life sentence, the High Court bench had held that the charges of rape under the IPC, sexual assault under the Pocso Act and offences under the Juvenile Justice Act had been proved.
Asaram subsequently challenged the judgement in the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu said they would consider granting interim bail to Asaram only if there was a grave medical necessity, “such as danger to life”.
The bench directed that the medical treatment being provided to him in prison should continue and said he could seek an urgent hearing if his health deteriorated, Live Law reported.
Asaram’s counsel urged the court to consider his age and medical condition and claimed that he had been subjected to a “social media” trial.
The state opposed interim relief, arguing that the case involved a minor complainant and that Asaram had been taken to hospital when required earlier this month, Bar and Bench reported.
In January 2023, a sessions court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar also sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in a separate case about raping a 16-year-old girl several times at his ashram between 2001 and 2006.
Before his convictions, Asaram was a religious leader who established his first ashram in the 1970s along the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad and built a multi-crore business empire comprising various products and spiritual literature.
Edited by Sneha.
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