Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Friday (June 27) extended till July 7 the temporary bail granted to self-styled godman Asaram in a 2013 rape case in which he was convicted and serving a life sentence.
The Supreme Court in January this year granted Asaram interim bail on medical grounds till March 31 and he moved the High Court seeking extension of temporary bail on medical grounds. A division bench of the High Court delivered a split verdict and his plea was referred to a third judge, who granted him three-month temporary bail, which is set to expire on June 30.
A bench comprising Justice Ilesh Vora and Justice Sandeep Bhatt on Friday extended the temporary bail to Asaram to enable his lawyer to submit necessary documents in his plea till July 7 after hearing the parties and posted the matter for further hearing on July 2.
The counsel appearing for Asaram sought extension of the interim bail for few days to place on record the documents, submitting that 10 days were wasted in the procedure to get orders from the Jodhpur High Court after the court granted Asaram temporary bail on March 28 and he was released on April 7.
“Considering the peculiar facts of the present case, more particularly, the process of getting the certificate from NALSA (National Legal Services Authority), which according to submission is underway, we are inclined to extend the temporary bail till July 7″, the High Court said.
A Gandhinagar court in January 2023 convicted and sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping a woman disciple repeatedly from 2001 to 2006 when she was living at his ashram near Gandhinagar.
A special Jodhpur POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court also convicted Asaram and sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life for raping a minor.