Big blow to Asaram from Supreme Court, refused to grant bail, said- ‘We will think only when the situation gets worse’

Jaipur: Asaram, who is serving life imprisonment in the sexual harassment case, has not received any relief from the country’s Supreme Court at present. The Supreme Court on Tuesday presented the Rajasthan government’s reply to Asaram’s petition, in which he has challenged the Rajasthan High Court’s decision to uphold his sentence. The Supreme Court, while refusing to suspend Asaram’s sentence, made it clear that bail can be considered only in extremely serious health circumstances.

Supreme Court’s stance

Justice M.M. Hearing the matter, the bench of Justice Sundaresh and Justice Sheel Nagu has issued a notice to the state government and directed it to file its reply within two weeks. During the hearing, the bench made oral remarks and said, we are not granting bail right now. Only after hearing the state government’s side, we will consider whether there is a serious need to grant bail. The court made it clear that relief can be given only in such a situation when there is a real threat to the life of the petitioner. Along with this, the court directed the jail administration to provide proper medical facilities to Asaram inside the jail itself.

Lawyer’s argument: citing age and illness

Senior advocate DS Naidu, appearing for Asaram in the court, argued that his client is more than 80 years old. He is currently suffering from many serious physical ailments, hence he should be given relief by suspending his sentence.

What was the decision of Rajasthan High Court?

Earlier, on May 27, the Rajasthan High Court had upheld Asaram’s conviction and life imprisonment in the 2013 rape case of a minor. However, the High Court had also given relief to Asaram in some sections.

acquitted under these sections

The High Court had acquitted Asaram of charges under Section 376(D) of the IPC (gang rape), Section 120(B) related to criminal conspiracy and Section 5(G)/6 of the POCSO Act. Apart from this, co-accused Sanchita Gupta alias Shilpi and Sharat Chandra were also acquitted by the court.

Punishment continues in these sections

The court considered the conviction under Section 376(2)(F), Section 376 of the IPC and Section 34 of the POCSO related to rape of a minor to be appropriate. For this reason his life sentence remained intact.

other streams

Along with this, the lower court’s decision was also upheld under IPC sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 370(4) (human trafficking), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509, 354(A) (sexual harassment) and section 23 of the Juvenile Justice Act.