Rajasthan High Court rejects Asaram Bapu's bail application

The Rajasthan High Court today rejected the bail application of self-styled godman Asaram, who has been arrested for alleged sexual exploitation of a minor girl in his ashram here.

Justice Nirmal Jeet Kaur, while pronouncing the order, rejected arguments of the defence counsel and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who had contended that the charges under section 376(2) (rape on a woman when she is under twelve years of age), and others are redundant. He had also questioned the allegations of the victim and claimed that she had come on her own to Asaram with her parents.

Jethmalani also said that Asaram has been in jail since long and is frail and sick. Countering the arguments, the prosecution said the charge sheet strengthens the allegations. "Besides this, there has not been any change in the circumstances of the case," government counsel Mahipal Bishnoi said.

After hearing both the sides, Justice Kaur, who had reserved the order on February 3 after completion of the arguments, rejected the bail application of Asaram. Asaram has been lodged in jail since his arrest in August last year on charges of sexually assaulting the teenage girl at his ashram here. 

Later, two Surat-based sisters who stayed at his ashram in Gujarat accused him and his son, Narayan Sai, of rape.