The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to convicted religious leader Asumal Harpalani, popularly known as Asaram Bapu, on medical grounds in a 2013 rape case until March 31, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal directed that Asaram must not meet his followers upon his release from a Jodhpur jail, where he is serving a sentence in another rape case.

The 86-year-old has been in custody since August 31, 2013, facing charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.

In January 2023, a Gandhinagar Sessions Court sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment for raping a 16-year-old girl several times at his Motera ashram between 2001 and 2006. He was convicted under the Indian Penal Code sections about rape, unnatural offences, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, assault or criminal force to confine a person, and molestation.

Before his conviction, Asaram was a prominent religious leader who established his first ashram in the 1970s along the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad and built a multi-crore business empire comprising various products and spiritual literature.

In August 2024, the Gujarat High Court rejected Asaram’s plea to suspend his life sentence. Subsequently, the Supreme Court focused solely on his health issues, citing his advanced age and heart ailments, and granted him bail on humanitarian grounds.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had opposed the plea, asserting that adequate medical facilities were available to Asaram in custody.

Asaram had previously been allowed ayurvedic treatment at the Arogayadham Center in Jodhpur in March 2024 and was granted parole in December 2024 for medical travel. The Supreme Court indicated that his medical condition could be reassessed closer to the end of the bail period.