Jodhpur:After spending nearly 12 years in jail, self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was on Tuesday granted interim bail by the Rajasthan High Court, a week after Supreme Court passed orders for his conditional bail on health grounds.
Asaram Bapu, who is serving life sentence in 2013 sexual assault case, has been granted bail exactly after 11 years and seven months. The bail will be valid until March 31, 2025, and is conditional, requiring Asaram to avoid contact with his followers, maintain distance from the media, and return to Jodhpur Central Jail by the deadline post treatment.
Advocate Yashpal Singh Rajpurohit explained that on January 7, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Asaram, but he couldn't be released until Rajasthan High Court extended relief. Asaram's bail petitions had been rejected earlier also, but the Supreme Court approved his bail this time on medical grounds, while observing that he is suffering from various ailments and needed treatment.
Soon after the top court granted him relief, Asaram's counsels moved a suspension of sentence plea in the high court. A division bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vineet Kumar Mathur granted interim bail to Asaram considering that the nature of the plea was similar to the one filed in the Supreme Court. "We argued that the plea was similar in nature to that filed in the Supreme Court and the grounds stand valid in this case as well," Asaram's counsel Nishant Bora said. He said the conditions for Asaram's interim bail are the same as those set by the apex court on January 7 except one.