Gujarat HC extends Asaram's temporary bail in rape case till July 7

The Gujarat High Court on Friday extended the temporary bail granted to self-styled godman Asaram till July 7 in the 2013 rape case for which he is serving a life sentence.

The division bench of Justices Ilesh Vora and Sandeep Bhatt extended Asaram's temporary bail, granted on March 28 initially for three months, during the hearing of the plea.

Asaram (86) is on bail on medical grounds.

The extension was granted so that his lawyer could submit the necessary documents in his plea, and the matter has been kept for further hearing on July 2.

Notably, the temporary bail granted by Gujarat High Court on March 28 this year is set to expire on June 30.

In his submission, Asaram's lawyer sought an extension of a few days to submit documents, claiming that after the court granted temporary bail on March 28, 10 days were wasted due to the procedure to get orders from the Jodhpur High Court, and he was released on April 7.

"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 (respondents) 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.

The court, in its order, stated that 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 on March 28 granted temporary bail for three months to Asaram as the interim bail granted to him earlier by the Supreme Court was to expire on March 31.

A division bench of the high court then delivered a split verdict, after which a third judge, to whom the matter was referred, ruled in favour of granting him three-month temporary bail.

In January 2023, a court in Gandhinagar sentenced Asaram in a rape case to life imprisonment.

Asaram is also serving a life sentence in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.

In the present case, he was convicted 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.

He was convicted under Indian Penal Code sections 376 2 (C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 342 (wrongful detention), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 357 (assault) and 506 (criminal intimidation).