Supreme Court dismisses Asaram Bapu's plea again
Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, seeking temporary suspension of his sentence to pursue medical treatment at an Ayurveda centre in Uttarakhand. The self-styled godman had asked for interim bail for two months for Ayurvedic treatment. Asaram Bapu has been jailed for life imprisonment for sexually assaulting a teenage girl.
A bench comprising justices Indira Banerjee, V Ramasubramanian and Bela M Trivedi took note of the response of the Rajasthan government that the convict has been provided requisite treatment and dismissed the plea. "Sorry... It is not an ordinary crime at all. You will get all your ayurvedic treatment in jail,” the bench observed orally while dismissing the plea.
Senior advocate R Basant, appearing for the convict, said that an interim bail for a period of two months can be considered for allowing him to get the holistic treatment of his ailments.
Senior Advocate Manish Singhvi, representing the state, said the convict has been getting the best possible treatment in jail and urged dismissal of the plea.
In May, self-styled godman had also contracted coronavirus and was moved to the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Jodhpur
In several court affidavits, Asaram has said he suffers from multiple ailments and has been requesting bail on health grounds.
Earlier, the Rajasthan High Court had earlier allowed Asaram Bapu to have food from outside the Jodhpur Central Jail once a day. The court, however, said the jail authorities will first thoroughly check food brought from outside before permitting Asaram to consume it. The court has also sought an undertaking from the self-styled godman, asking him to take the responsibility of any possible adverse impact on his health due to the consumption of privately procured food.
