Ahmedabad: The father of a rape survivor said on Sunday that his family is facing increased danger after the convict Asaram Bapu, who is serving life imprisonment in the rape case, was granted fresh temporary bail.
Expressing shock over the Gujarat High Court’s split verdict on Friday, the survivor’s father said that the self-proclaimed godman “can do anything” to them any time.
“When Asaram was in jail, it was our victory. Now he is managing everyone. I am surprised that the court is repeatedly granting interim bail to Asaram, first for seven days, then 12 days, then two and a half months and now for three months,” PTI quoted the father as saying.
The Gujarat High Court on Friday granted fresh temporary bail for three months to self-styled godman Asaram, who is serving life imprisonment in a rape case, on medical grounds following a split verdict.
On January 7, the Supreme Court had granted interim bail to Asaram till March 31 on medical grounds. Now, the high court has extended the temporary reprieve by three months to Asaram, who is undergoing ayurvedic treatment in Jodhpur.
“What kind of illness does he have? Now the danger to our family has increased. He can do anything to us at any time. Now we are only dependent on God,” the rape survivor’s father said.
A resident of Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, the man claimed that Asaram “is managing everyone”, adding that he was even cheated by his own lawyer.
“Even after repeated requests, our lawyer did not file an objection in court. As a result of this, the court again granted him bail for three months. We signed all the papers and gave them to the lawyer but he did not file the objection and kept making us run around… he has cheated us,” he alleged.
“Asaram’s supporters were saying that he won’t go back to jail after being granted bail… Now, their words are proving to be true,” the father lamented.
His daughter was raped at Asaram’s Jodhpur ashram in 2013, when she was 16 years old.
