Supreme Court to hear Asaram Bapu's bail plea today

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's bail petition on Monday.

A medical board of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) last week had told the SC that Asaram Bapu's health condition was stable. In the report filed by the seven-member medical board, the board had said that Asaram, who is accused of rape, had refused to undergo several of the tests.

"Finding from the extent of completed evaluation reveal petitioner's (Asaram) medical condition as 'stable'. However, coronary, carotid and prostate evaluation remained incomplete as the petitioner refused to undergo the requisite tests," the report said.

Asaram was arrested on August 31, 2013 after a minor girl had alleged that Asaram sexually assaulted her at his ashram in in Manai village near Jodhpur. The teenage girl from Uttar Pradesh was a student living in his ashram. The self-styled godman has been in jail ever since. His counsel had sought bail from the top court saying that Asaram was suffering from various ailments and needed medical attention.

Asaram had approached the apex court for a bail plea earlier and the SC on August 11 had denied him an interim bail in a rape case. The top court had also directed AIIMS to formulate a medical team to ascertain Asaram's health condition before hearing his regular bail plea.

The Rajasthan High Court, earlier on August 9, had rejected the godman's bail petition earlier saying that the Asaram rape case had reached its "fag end" and it would not be appropriate to grant him bail at this time. Asaram's bail plea has been rejected nine times by the top courts.