The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday granted five more days of parole to selfstyled godman Asaram Bapu, serving lifer in Jodhpur Central Jail after conviction in a rape case, to undergo ayurveda treatment at Madhavbaug Hospital in the Khopoli area on the outskirts of Pune. On August 13, Asaram was granted a seven-day parole by the high court, following which he left for the Pune facility on August. His parole period is being counted from the time his treatment for a heart ailment began. In Khopoli, Asaram is admitted to the private facility amid tight security, sources said. Granting parole to the self-styled godman, the high court made it amply clear that Asaram would not be able to meet anyone in the course of his treatment. Also, he would bear the entire cost incurred for his treatment and travel, the court recorded.
Asaram has been serving life imprisonment in the Jodhpur prison after he was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other offences by a trial court in 2018 for raping a minor girl.
He was earlier allowed to undergo treatment at a private ayurvedic hospital here in Jodhpur under police custody. However, following deterioration of his health condition, he was admitted to the Jodhpur AIIMS.
This would be the second instance of his bail application being dismissed by the Rajasthan High Court, after the Supreme Court in March this year had refused to entertain a plea filed by Asaram seeking suspension of sentence on medical grounds. A bench presided over by Justice Sanjiv Khanna had allowed the petitioner to file fresh application before the Rajasthan High Court seeking to undergo treatment at the Pune facility under police custody.
On January 11, the Rajasthan HC had rejected the fourth application of Asaram for suspension of sentence or bail on the ground that law and order problems may arise if he is not allowed to receive medical treatment of his choice.
Self-styled godman Asaram was convicted of raping a minor by a special POCSO court in Jodhpur on April 25, 2018, which sentenced him to life imprisonment. He has been in jail since September 2, 2013. Earlier, in January 2023, a court in Gujarat had convicted self-styled godman Asaram in a decade-old case of sexual assault of a woman disciple and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The victim had accused Asaram of repeatedly raping her at his ashram in 2013.
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