A day after Asaram spent a night in prison in a case of sexually assaulting a minor girl, the hearing on his bail plea on Tuesday was put off till the next day by a Rajasthan court here, a lawyer said.
District and Sessions Judge (Rural) of Jodhpur Manoj Vyas put off the hearing till Wednesday to allow the prosecution argue on the bail plea, Asaram’s lawyer KK Manan said.
Asaram, 72, who was arrested from his ashram in Indore in Madhya Pradesh last week, sought bail claiming that police erred in booking him under rape charge, which is non-bailable.
He claimed the minor girl’s complaint against him amounted to rape attempt.
Manan told the court that the spiritual guru should be granted bail as the charge of rape attempt was bailable.
Asaram was Monday sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a Jodhpur court.
RELATED NEWS:
Suspended IPS Officer connection with AsaRam
Suspended IPS officer D G Vanzara’s resignation letter is dated on the day self-styled godman Asaram, who is also the officer’s spiritual guru, was arrested in a sexual assault case. The two share a guru-shishya relationship, leading to speculation on Tuesday that the developments may be linked.
Mediapersons recall that as the incharge of Ahmedabad crime branch and ATS, which is also the time when back-to-back police encounters took place, Vanzara openly expressed his faith in Asaram, a picture of whom was saved on his mobile phone screen, as his “saviour”. Interestingly, law caught up with Asaram a year after Vanzara went to jail in the Sohrabuddin case. The encounter took place in 2007, and the mysterious deaths of the boys studying in Asaram’s gurukul in Ahmedabad surfaced in 2008.
The chargesheet recently submitted by the CBI in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan encounter case also confirms the connection between Vanzara and Asaram. An armed police constable, Amarsinh Vanzara, has said in his statement to the CBI that on June 15, 2004, he, along with two other policemen, had gone to Asaram’s ashram in Motera to bring milk for the IPS officer.
Asaram ‘purifies’ jail cell with Gangajal
Even in jail and surrounded by crooks and criminals, self-stlyed godman Asaram has not forgotten his “holy” ways.
Sent to jail on Monday over charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, the first thing Asaram did was “purify” his cell with Gangajal the moment he stepped into the barracks of the Jodhpur central jail.
A jail official revealed to Hindustan Times that Asaram was carrying Ganga waters in a container kept in a bag with him.
“Asaram was carrying a bag when he entered the jail. Soon after entering the barrack, he sprayed some water from Ganga river in every corner,” the jail official said seeking anonymity.
A local court had remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days in the case which has riveted the nation where godmen have large followers.
Asaram has filed a bail plea the verdict on which is likely to be delivered on Wednesday.
Asaram’s counsel filed the application on Tuesday before the district and sessions judge (Jodhpur rural) also seeking “homemade” food with herbs.
He has also demanded medicated food, material for worship and fresh clothes to pursue his religious routine.
“Asaram has a fixed daily routine. This routine should be allowed to him in the jail too,” Manendra Singh, a counsel for Asaram, pleaded before the court.
The tainted religious leader has been lodged in barrack number 1 of the jail were former cabinet minister of Rajasthan, Mahipal Maderana, was lodged in connection with murder and kidnapping case of nurse Bhanwari Devi.
The official said Asaram, lodged with four under trials, passed some time by reading a religious book and went to sleep at around 11.30 pm.
He woke up early at around 5 am. After chanting mantras, he demanded fresh water for bath and performed some religious activities. He also demanded some newspapers after which jail authorities provided him some local news papers.
Asaram denied jail breakfast and consumed only Ganga water, said the jail official.
“We are treating him as a normal jail inmate and providing facilities as per guidelines of the Rajasthan jail manuals” said jail superintendent Rakesh Mohan Sharma.
Sources: HT, DNA News