Rajasthan: Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Asaram Bapu, the 86-year-old self-styled godman, in connection with the 2013 rape case. The accused godman was convicted in April 2018 for raping a minor girl in 2013. Notably, the bail comes days after the Supreme Court granted him his first-ever interim bail in another rape case. The top court, while hearing the bail pleas, considered the age-related ailments and granted bail on medical grounds.

While hearing the case on Tuesday, a bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinit Kumar Mathur of the Rajasthan High Court cited medical reasons to allow a temporary suspension of sentence for the rape convict. The potential impending release on bail for Asaram in separate cases will be the first since he was arrested in 2013. Earlier in 2022, his plea before the High Court for suspension of sentence was rejected

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Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, along with Advocates Rajesh Gulab Inamdar and Shashwat Anand, represented Asaram, who is facing seperate rape cases. After Asaram’s arrest, two women from Surat had filed complaints, alleging rape by the self-styled godman and his son in his Ashram in Ahmedabad’s Motera between 2002 and 2005.

In the 2013 rape of a minor girl, Asaram was booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act), and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) in addition to the charges of trafficking, rape, outraging a woman’s modesty, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation.

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Notably, during the criminal trial of Asaram that started in 2014, nine witnesses were attacked while four were killed. Given the history of going behind the witnesses even during his jail term, police have provided additional security to the family members of the rape victim, a day after the apex court’s bail order last week.

Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Sanjay Kumar Sagar had said that he visited the victim’s house and deployed a guard there. “A police guard is already deployed at the victim’s home, and her father has a gunner for security. Additional police personnel are now being assigned, and necessary instructions have been issued to the relevant police station and circle officer to ensure the family’s safety,” The Indian Express quoted the officer.