The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Rajasthan government to take “appropriate instructions” regarding the health condition of spiritual man Asaram, who is seeking interim bail on medical grounds.
“We do not want to blame ourselves or blame ourselves,” news agency PTI reported.
Mehta told the court that doctors said Asaram, who was convicted of sexual assault, needed some lifestyle changes to manage his health.
“We don’t want anything untoward to happen,” the SC bench said, according to PTI. The state will file an affidavit by July 20, Mehta said.
The Rajasthan High Court on May 27 upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of the octogenarian in a case of rape of a minor in 2013. He had filed an application in the high court seeking interim bail on health grounds.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices MM Sundresh and BP Varali.
“There is some bleeding due to some stomach problems but this seems to be a temporary phenomenon,” Mehta told the court, and that Asaram is taking medication.
“We will just say that please take appropriate instructions as we do not want anything untoward to happen,” the bench responded.
The lawyer representing Asaram said he was a high-risk patient.
When Asaram was last let out
Mehta recalled that three months ago, Asaram went to Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath and walked everywhere. He was granted temporary release to receive treatment at that time.
The court adjourned the case for hearing on July 21.
On June 30, the Supreme Court sought a response from the Rajasthan government on Asaram’s petition challenging the SC order that upheld his conviction and life imprisonment in the case.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, had said that the medical facility that had been extended to him so far should continue, subject to the satisfaction of the medical authority concerned. It also gave freedom to the petitioner to urgently refer to the matter if his condition deteriorated.
The Supreme Court generally upheld Asram’s conviction in the case, but acquitted him of charges related to gang rape and sexual assault of a child. It upheld his conviction under the statutory section on rape of a minor, and thus maintained the life imprisonment sentence imposed by the court of first instance.
The Supreme Court also upheld convictions under several other provisions, including those relating to wrongful confinement, trafficking, criminal intimidation, insulting the modesty of women, and sexual harassment.
Asaram was convicted in 2018 of sexually assaulting a minor student at the ashram and was sentenced to life imprisonment under multiple provisions of the IPC Act, POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act.
