SC adjourns hearing on Asaram Bapu's plea for treatment at Ayurvedic centre

The Supreme Court has adjourned the plea of Asaram Bapu, who is undergoing life imprisonment in a rape case, seeking temporary suspension of sentence to pursue medical treatment at an Ayurvedic treatment centre in Uttarakhand to June 11.

A Bench of Justices Navin Sinha and Ajay Rastogi adjourned the hearing for Friday and asked Asaram to file a rejoinder to the Rajasthan government's reply.

Asaram had challenged Rajasthan High Court's order in the apex court wherein his petition seeking temporary suspension of sentences to pursue medical treatment was dismissed.

The Rajasthan government has opposed the bail plea of Asaram before the apex court stating that he wants to change the place of his custody under the guise of seeking medical treatment.

The State has said that Asaram, who had earlier sought bail for allopathic treatment of his ailments, has now prayed to be treated at an Ayurveda centre, only because his earlier round of petitions was not successful.

In his plea, Asaram said that he is an 83-84-year-old man whose medical condition is dire and required immediate holistic medical treatment.

He has presented reports to the court and submitted that the treatment at AIIMS, Jodhpur was not sufficient as he had been given blood thinners, thereby making him bleed profusely.

Earlier on June 4, the top court had sought the Rajasthan government's response on a plea of Asaram, facing varying jail terms including a life sentence in sexual assault cases, that he be permitted to undergo treatment at an Ayurvedic treatment centre near Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

The Bench had, however, orally observed that it was not inclined to grant interim bail by suspending his sentence for two months to enable him to get holistic treatment of his multiple ailments of a medical centre of his choice.

Asaram wanted to be treated at Prakash Deep Institute of Ayurvedic Sciences which is located between Haridwar and Rishikesh in Uttarakhand.

A Jodhpur court, on April 25, 2018, had sentenced Asaram to life in prison after finding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram in 2013. His accomplices Sharad and Shilpi were sentenced to 20 years in jail by the court in the same case for their roles.

In her complaint, the girl had said that Asaram had called her to his ashram in the Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013.

He was also convicted in a 2002 rape case and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Asaram is also facing a rape case in Surat in Gujarat.

( With inputs from ANI )