Two months after it upheld self-styled godman Asaram’s life imprisonment in a minor’s rape case, the Rajasthan High Court on Monday approved his request for a 20-day parole. The court also criticised the Jodhpur district collector-led committee for turning down his parole plea. A bench of acting Chief Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjeet Purohit granted 85-year-old Asaram the relief on account of age and for having spent over 13 years in jail.The counsel for Rajasthan and others had placed before the high court the minutes of the meeting held by the district collector on July 31. According to the minutes, the committee rejected Asaram’s 20-day parole request because “there is an information from the police that the petitioner may abscond and also on the count that he would not be eligible to be granted parole in terms of the rule 14(a) of the Rajasthan Prisoners Release on Parole Rules,1958, as there is a criminal case registered against the petitioner out of the state of Rajasthan and also that he has been convicted by the court of another state (Gandhinagar in Gujarat)”.The meeting also pointed out that Asaram is undergoing treatment and the medical officer concerned has issued no certificate deeming him fit for release on parole. It was also pointed out that there is an apprehension “of serious danger to the family of the complainant” if Asaram is out of prison. The high court said these arguments are “all misleading and figment of the imagination, without any basis”.It said Asaram has undergone incarceration for a period of 13 years, one month and 24 days. He has also been released on interim bail earlier. “There is no case of misuse of bail on his part, nor there has been any instance of him causing danger to the society or to any of the witnesses,” the court noted. The court said committees formed for deciding parole requests “use the same or similar kind of excuses for denying parole without there being any actual instances being cited.”In May, a bench of Justice Yogendra Kumar Purohit and Justice Arun Monga upheld Asaram’s life term in a minor’s rape case while acquitting him of the gangrape charge. At the time, Asaram was out on bail. The bench cancelled the relief, ordered forfeiture of bail bonds, and directed him to surrender.Upholding the sentence, the court said, “The appellant was 73 at the time. He is now 86. He thus stands before us bent by age and burdened by ailment, imploring a fresh look at his plea for leniency… We are unable to grant any indulgence, since the shadow of his frailty cannot justify ignoring the victim’s voice. Quiet. Devastating. Irrefutable. To ignore it would be to shake society’s faith in the criminal justice system, and send a wrong message no court must ever send, least of all when the perpetrator hid behind the cloak of a self-styled godman.”Releasing him on first parole now, the high court has directed him to furnish a Rs 50,000 personal bond “with two sound and solvent sureties of Rs 25,000 each”. The court has said the Superintendent of the Jodhpur Central Jail is at liberty to impose “other adequate and reasonable conditions”.Hamza Khan is a seasoned Correspondent for The Indian Express, specifically reporting from the diverse and politically dynamic state of Rajasthan. Based in Jaipur, he provides high-authority coverage on the state's governance, legal landscape, and social issues, directly supporting the "Journalism of Courage" ethos of the publication. Expertise Politics & Governance: Comprehensive tracking of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, including policy changes (e.g., the Right to Health Bill and Anti-Mob Lynching Bills), bypoll dynamics, and the shifting power structures between the BJP and Congress. ... Read More Tags:Asaram BapuAsaram Bapu case