Supreme Court refuses to entertain Asaram Bapu’s plea seeking bail, suspension of sentence in rape case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea filed by self-styled godman Asaram Bapu against the Rajasthan High Court order rejecting his application for suspension of sentence in connection with the rape case of a minor girl.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.V.N. Bhatti dismissed the bail plea as withdrawn.

However, the bench granted liberty to the petitioner to move a fresh application before the high court for releasing him on bail till his appeal against trial court’s conviction order is decided.

The Rajasthan High Court in July last year had rejected the accused plea seeking suspension of sentence till disposal of the pending appeal.

It had said that the defence has sought multiple adjournments in the past and two previous applications for suspension of sentence have been dismissed.

Asaram has been serving life imprisonment in Jodhpur prison following his conviction under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other offences by a trial court in 2018. He has already suffered incarceration for over ten years.

The accused continues to be in custody in another trial in Gujarat. The Gandhinagar court in Janury this year sentenced him to life imprisonment for raping a prosecutrix between 1997 to 2006 in Ahmedabad.