The government said that the accused Asaram Bapu has been raising his concern for immediate medical attention since the day of his arrest
The Rajasthan government has objected to a bail plea in the Supreme Court filed by self-styled godman and rape convict Asaram Bapu, saying he is trying to change the venue of his custody under the guise of medical treatment. Asaram is serving a life sentence in a sexual assault case. He had approached the Supreme Court for bail on health grounds.
“The accused with ulterior motive has been attempting to change the venue of his custody under the guise of medical treatment. Such change is an abuse of the process of law,” Rajasthan argued in its counter-affidavit. Asaram Bapu was deliberately trying to delay a pending trial for rape in Gandhi Nagar and that “Asaram Bapu is stable and fit”, it said. “The accused has been raising his concern of immediate medical attention since the day of his arrest,” the State said.
In fact, the doctor’s certificate, in one instance, was found to be even false.
The affidavit said the accused had been under treatment at AIIMS Jodhpur and the ayurvedic hospital at Jodhpur since 2016. “Jodhpur is one of the rare centers where excellent allopathic and ayurvedic treatments are available… Any treatment to him can be provided by a committee of doctors of AIIMS Jodhpur and Ayurveda hospital,” it said.
Notably, only in the last one month there have been two bail pleas by the self-styled godman, all based on health reasons. First, on May 10th 2021, he sought bail citing his COVID positive report and then on 4th of June 2021, he moved the Supreme Court after Rajasthan High Court rejected his sentence suspension plea based on the reason that he wants to avail ayurvedic medical treatment.
Godman Serving Jail Term for Being a Sex Offender
Asaram Bapu and the other accused were booked in August 2013 under various sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Juvenile Justice Act, and the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, the 16-year-old girl, whose parents were followers of Asaram, took ill at an ashram in Chhindwara where she studied. Her parents were told that evil spirits had possessed her and they should meet Asaram for a remedy.
The parents took the girl to Asaram’s ashram in Manai, Jodhpur on August 14, 2013 — he was staying there then. On the night of August 15-16, Asaram, it was alleged, told her parents to go away and leave the girl with him in his hut. According to the prosecution, it was then that the crime was committed. He was also said to have threatened the girl not to disclose what had happened.
After she narrated her ordeal to her parents, her father went to Delhi to confront Asaram but could not meet him. Following that, a zero-FIR was lodged against Asaram and his aides — it was later transferred to Jodhpur, where the crime had been committed.
Asaram was arrested in September 2013 and lodged in the Jodhpur jail. His multiple bail applications were rejected by different courts.
Asaram Bapu was later on 28th of January 2018, convicted of this offence along with two of his aides and Madhu Sudan Sharma, Special Judge, SC/ST Cases, handed Asaram a life term while the two aides were sentenced to 20 years each in prison.
Twitterati in Support of the Convicted Rapist
As soon as the Rajasthan High Court dismissed his appeal and the Government opposed his bail plea in the Supreme Court, Asaram gained support over twitter. People started asking why he was being denied ayurvedic treatment as a few vouched of his spirituality. Sant Asaram Bapu started trending with near about 70,000 tweets under it.