The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition by Hindu religious leader Asaram seeking to suspend the life sentence he is serving in two cases of rape considering his deteriorating health.
Asaram’s petition in the Supreme Court on Friday challenged the Rajasthan High Court’s January 11 order that refused to suspend his sentence or grant him interim medical bail.
In January last year, a court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar had sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping one of his disciples in 2013. He was already serving a life term for raping a 16-year-old girl. In 2018, he was convicted under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He has been serving his term at a Jodhpur jail since 2013.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Devadatt Kamat, representing Asaram, told the top court that Asaram needed a coronary artery bypass procedure and medical treatment for other ailments, Bar and Bench reported.
The Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta asked Asaram to move the Rajasthan High Court with an application for treatment at the hospital in Maharashtra.
