Asaram gets 7-day parole from Rajasthan HC for ayurvedic medical treatment

The Rajasthan High Court on Tuesday granted a parole of seven days to godman Asaram Bapu for an ayurvedic medical treatment.

The self-styled godman is serving a life term in a rape case.

Earlier, the HC had rejected Asaram’s petitions for parole twice, citing potential law and order situation upon his release.

In February this year, Asaram was rushed to AIIMS Jodhpur after he experienced severe chest pain.

He will go to Pune in Maharashtra for the Ayurvedic treatment under police custody.

Justices PS Bhati and Munnuri Laxman of the Rajasthan High Court’s Jodhpur bench ordered that Asaram would stay for treatment at the hospital under police custody for seven days.

Asaram was arrested in September 2013 from Indore for raping a teenage girl in his ashram in 2013. He was convicted by a special POCSO court in 2018.

A Gujarat court had, in January 2023, convicted him in a decade-old sexual assault case involving a woman disciple and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

The victim, a Surat-based woman, had accused him of repeatedly raping her at his ashram in 2013.

His pleas for suspension of sentence on health grounds were earlier rejected by the High Court and the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, however, had said that Asaram Bapu could approach the High Court seeking a nod for medical treatment.

Asaram’s advocates in his petition cited his coronary angiography report of January 14, saying it showed arterial blockages of up to 99%.

“The petitioner, who is in the twilight of his life, aged more than 85 years, is apprehending that he may die in jail if he is not allowed to take treatment from a hospital/doctor of his choice, which is a fundamental right granted to every person, regardless of the fact whether he is a convict or an undertrial,” the petition said.