The Gujarat High Court on Friday extended the temporary bail of self-proclaimed godman Asaram until July 7. He is serving a life sentence in a 2013 rape case.
A bench of Justice Ilesh Vora and Sandeep Bhatt gave the extension during a hearing, as Asaram’s lawyer needs more time to submit important documents. Asaram, who is 86 years old, was given temporary bail on medical grounds on March 28 for three months. That bail was supposed to end on June 30, but now the court has allowed him to stay out until July 7. The next hearing will be held on July 2.
Lawyer asks for 2 more days to file documents
Asaram’s lawyer asked the court for a few more days to submit some documents. He said that even though the Gujarat High Court gave Asaram temporary bail on March 28, about 10 days were lost in completing the process of getting permission from the Jodhpur High Court, so Asaram was only released on April 17.
“So I request for two days so that if the matter is kept on Monday, I can place the document on record, and even they can verify. Then on Monday, in any case, I have to surrender, so lordships may give me one or two days till the matter is pending,” he said.
Court grants bail extension
The court said in its order that, looking at the special circumstances of the case, especially the ongoing process of getting a certificate from NALSA (National Legal Services Authority)—they decided to extend Asaram’s temporary bail until July 7.
Earlier, on March 28, the Gujarat High Court had given Asaram temporary bail for three months because his earlier interim bail from the Supreme Court was going to end on March 31. At that time, two judges of the high court gave different opinions (a split verdict), so the case went to a third judge. That judge agreed to give Asaram temporary bail for three months.
In January 2023, a court in Gandhinagar sentenced Asaram to life in prison in a rape case. He is already serving another life sentence in a separate case where he was found guilty of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
Rape Case
In this case, Asaram was found guilty of repeatedly raping woman follower from Surat between 2001 and 2006 while she was staying at his ashram in Motera, near Ahmedabad.
He was convicted under several sections of the Indian Penal Code, including rape, unnatural acts, wrongful confinement, assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty, physical assault, and criminal intimidation.
