On Tuesday, the Gujarat High Court extended the temporary bail granted to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who was convicted in a 2013 rape case and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Gandhinagar court, till September 3.
The Division Bench of Justice Ilesh Vora and Justice PM Raval extended Asaram's temporary bail, which was to end on August 21, till September 3 when it will take up the matter next. On July 30, the Apex Court granted Asaram the liberty to approach the Gujarat HC for temporary bail extension mainly on the ground of his deteriorating health condition.
He was convicted under Section 376 2 (C), Section 377, Section 342, Section 354, Section 357 and Section 506 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
Earlier, the Gujarat High Court had extended his interim bail till August 21, mainly on medical grounds after observing that he was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a private hospital and his health condition was critical. The court earlier granted him interim bail till July 7 and later extended the relief for another month. While granting him extension then, the court clarified that no further prayer for extension of temporary bail will be entertained on medical grounds.
Asaram first approached the High Court after the interim bail granted to him by the Supreme Court till March 31 on medical grounds was coming to an end, as the apex court had directed him to do so if he needed any extension.
The Division Bench of the High Court then delivered a split verdict, after which a third judge to whom the matter was referred granted him a three-month temporary bail.
In January 2023, a court in Gandhinagar sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in the rape case. He is also serving life sentence in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
The Gandhinaagar court convicted Asaram in a case registered in 2013 for raping a woman disciple, who hailed from Surat, on several occasions from 2001 to 2006 when she was living at his ashram at Motera near Ahmedabad.
The Rajasthan High Court will hear his interim bail plea in another rape case on August 29. In its direction, Asaram underwent a medical checkup at the Ahmedabad-based civil hospital on Monday.
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