Gujarat HC dismisses plea by Asaram’s son seeking suspension of life sentence in rape case

The Gujarat High Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by religious leader Asaram’s son, Narayan Sai, seeking the suspension of his life sentence in a rape case, Live Law reported.

Prima facie, Sai is not interested in the expeditious hearing of his appeal against his conviction and has instead adopted “delay tactics”, said a bench of Justices Ilesh J Vora and RT Vachhani.

Two sisters from Surat had in 2013 filed separate complaints against Asaram and Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement. Sai was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Surat in 2019.

He is lodged in a jail in Surat.

In his petition seeking the dismissal of his life sentence, Sai said that he had undergone 11 years of incarceration and added that there had been a delay in the hearing of his criminal appeal.

In response, the High Court said that he had “not cooperated in final hearing of the appeal” since 2019.

“He had tried to get either temporary bail or permanent bail pending the appeal by filing numerous applications,” Live Law quoted the bench as saying.

The bench also noted that the High Court had in 2021 fixed the appeal for the final hearing while rejecting one of his earlier applications for bail on merits. “However, it is on record...

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