SC notice to Rajasthan on Asaram Bapu's bail plea

New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday issued notice to the Rajasthan government on spiritual guru Asaram Bapu's plea for bail in an alleged rape case in the state's Jodhpur while asking him to approach the Gujarat High Court for bail in another alleged rape case registered against him in Surat.

While asking Asaram Bapu to approach the Gujarat High Court for seeking bail, a bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice C. Nagappan asked the Rajasthan government to file its response on his plea and directed the listing of the matter in August.

The court will also hear Asaram Bapu's plea that he be allowed to place before the trial court documents to assert that the alleged victim was not a minor when the alleged rape took place.

Asaram has been booked for offences of rape, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman under the Indian Penal Code, sections of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and the Juvenile Justice Act.

In the case registered in Surat, the victim had accused Asaram of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006, when she was living in his ashram located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.