Gujarat High Court: In a bail application filed by Asaram Bapu under Section 430 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, seeking extension of his temporary bail by six months on medical grounds, a Single Judge Bench of A.S. Supehia., J., allowed the petition, holding that Asaram had established his “need” for medical treatments for various ailments and was entitled to interim bail. This decision came after the Division Bench of Ilesh J. Vora and Sandeep N. Bhatt, JJ., delivered a split verdict and referred the matter for final adjudication.
Background
Asaram was convicted for life imprisonment under Sections 376(2)(c) and 377 of the Penal Code, 1860, and he served almost 10 years of imprisonment. He had filed an application for suspension of sentence, but it was rejected. Aggrieved, he filed an appeal wherein the Supreme Court, without delving into the merits, granted him temporary bail till 31-03-2025 on medical grounds and liberty to approach High Court in this regard. Accordingly, Asaram approached the court in the present application seeking temporary bail for further 6 months on the medical ground.
The application was initially adjudicated upon by the Division Bench of Justices Ilesh J. Vora and Sandeep N. Bhatt. The Court noted that Asaram was around 86 years old with ischemic heart disease, hypertension, hypothyroidism, and anaemia with GI bleed. He was admitted at the hospital and the medical board advised that he should undergo coronary artery bye-pass heart surgery and was deemed as a ‘high risk patient’. Thereafter, he had been dealing with other medical issues and receiving treatment for the same.
According to Ilesh J. Vora, J., the Court was satisfied that Asaram being a high-risk patient with serious ailments, required specialized care, continuous monitoring by nursing assistance, dietary supervision and multi-disciplinary treatment, which was not available in the prison. Accordingly, he held that case was made out for Asaram’s release on temporary/ interim bail for three months on the same conditions imposed by the Supreme Court i.e., he shall not meet his followers in a group and there shall be three police officials present in his vicinity without interference with his medical treatment, meeting with any individual and in a normal or lawful conduct.
Dissenting with Ilesh J. Vora, J., Sandeep N. Bhatt, J., noted that Asaram had visited many allopathic and ayurvedic doctors during his bail period only once and did not take any follow-up treatment. The Court further noted that Asaram did not avail any allopathic treatment, though opinions were sought from the doctors. Further the Court noted that though the bail was granted on 07-01-2025, Asaram only approached the Ayurvedic Hospital on 01-03-2025. Thus, the Court remarked that it seemed that he was trying to continue the temporary bail granted without any justifiable cause.
The Court stated that the Supreme Court granted the liberty to approach the Court for any further ‘need’ on the medical ground. But upon perusal of the OPD case papers, the Court stated that there was not any ‘need’ or valid reason for granting/extending temporary bail to Asaram on the so-called medical ground. Thus, Sandeep N. Bhatt, J., held that he was not inclined to grant bail as it seemed that Asaram was only interested in extending the temporary bail without properly utilizing the time period granted by the Supreme Court.
Accordingly, due to the split decision of the Division Bench, the application was referred to a third judge.
Issue
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Whether a period of temporary bail granted to the applicant by the Supreme Court from 07-01-2025 to 31-03-2025 was properly utilised by Asaram
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Whether he had shown any real medical need which requires consideration of temporary bail for further 60 days, that too for ayurvedic treatment?
Analysis
The Court noted that the medical condition of Asaram was not disputed by the State, their only contention was the statements of various doctors who had examined him. The Court noted that none of these statements implied that Asaram had recovered from his ailments. The Court further noted that according to one of the doctors, Asaram required lifelong medical treatment with urgent care in case of an emergency as well as regular visits to a Physician and Cardiologist.
Upon perusal of other statements of doctors, the Court stated that all the statements and medical conditions mentioned that Asaram was suffering from serious ailments. He was also undergoing Ayurvedic treatment.
Regarding the question of whether there was any further “need” to grant him temporary bail or extend the temporary bail, the Court stated that neither the medical condition nor the medical papers has been doubted by the State. Asaram required a specialized care, continuous monitoring of his health condition, dietary supervision, etc., and he fell within the category of high-risk patient. The Court further stated that the Supreme Court granted him bail for three months, after examining his medical condition prevalent at that time, and it was not the case of the State that the applicant had totally recovered from the ailments since.
Thus, concurring with Ilesh J. Vora, J., the Court held that Asaram was entitled to interim bail. The Court remarked that it could not be said that an 86 years-old ailing person, who was desperate to get himself treated, could confine his treatment to a particular therapy or a particular system of medicines. The Supreme Court did not restrict him from taking treatment in any form. The State had also not pointed out that Asaram had misused his liberty during his three months of release by sitting idle and enjoying.
The Court further held that Asaram had established that he was in “need” of medical treatment for various ailments.
Hence, the Court extended his bail for 3 months.
[Asharam Thaumal Sindhi v. State of Gujarat, 2025 SCC OnLine Guj 1207, decided on 28-03-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Senior Advocate Shalin Mehta, Ashish M Dagli
For the respondents: BB Naik, KB Anandjiwala, Public Proscutor Hardik A. Dave, APP Chetna Shah
Laws are being misused against innocent and Asaram Bapu case is current example of that.