Gujarat HC has extended Asaram Bapu’s temporary bail till July 7 on medical grounds. The extension allows time for his lawyer to submit pending documents in the rape case.
Ahmedabad: Today, on June 27, the Gujarat High Court has extended the temporary bail granted to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu until July 7, 2025. He is currently serving a life sentence in a 2013 rape case.
The extension was granted by a division bench of Justices Ilesh Vora and Sandeep Bhatt during a hearing held on Friday.
Asaram, who is 86 years old, is out on temporary bail on medical grounds. His bail was initially granted by the Gujarat High Court on March 28, 2025, for three months, and was set to expire on June 30.
However, the court has now given him more time so that his lawyer can submit the required documents in support of his plea. The court has posted the matter for the next hearing on July 2.
In court, Asaram’s lawyer explained the delay in submitting the documents. He stated that although the bail was granted on March 28, Asaram was only released on April 7, because of delays caused by legal procedures in Rajasthan.
He told the court,
“So I request for two days so that if the matter is kept on Monday, I can place the document on record, and even they (respondents) can verify. Then on Monday, in any case, I have to surrender, so lordships may give me one or two days till the matter is pending.”
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Taking this into account, the bench said in its order,
“The peculiar facts of the present case, more particularly, the process of getting the certificate from NALSA (National Legal Services Authority), which according to submission is underway, we are inclined to extend the temporary bail till July 7.”
To provide some background, the Gujarat High Court had earlier granted Asaram three-month temporary bail on March 28 because the interim bail given to him by the Supreme Court was ending on March 31.
At that time, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court gave a split verdict on the matter. The case was then sent to a third judge, who ruled in favour of granting Asaram temporary bail.
Asaram was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2023 by a court in Gandhinagar in a rape case. In this present case, he was found guilty of repeatedly raping a woman disciple from Surat between 2001 and 2006. At that time, the woman was living at Asaram’s ashram located in Motera, near Ahmedabad.
Apart from this, Asaram is also serving a life sentence in another separate case in Rajasthan. In that case, he was convicted of raping a minor girl at his ashram in 2013.
In the Gujarat case, Asaram was convicted under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 376(2)(C) (rape by a person in authority), Section 377 (unnatural offences), Section 342 (wrongful confinement), Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), Section 357 (assault), and Section 506 (criminal intimidation).
CASE TITLE:
ASHUMAL @ ASHARAM THAUMAL SINDHI (HARPALANI) vs STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR. CR.MA/2/2025 IN CR.MA/1/2025 IN R/CR.A/607/2023
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