SC asks Gujarat HC to decide Narayan Sai's appeal in rape case within 3 months

New Delhi, Aug 7 (AHN) The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere with the Gujarat High Court's order refusing to suspend the sentence of self-styled godman Asaram's son, Narayan Sai, in a rape case, but requested the High Court to make an endeavour to decide his criminal appeal against conviction and sentence within three months.

A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Prasanna B. Varale disposed of Sai's special leave petition (SLP) after requesting the Gujarat High Court to hear and decide his pending appeal as expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of three months.

In his SLP filed before the apex court, Sai challenged the Gujarat High Court's order rejecting his fifth successive application seeking suspension of sentence and bail pending the disposal of his appeal.

In its order passed on May 4 this year, the Gujarat High Court had held that it was "difficult for us to come to a prima facie conclusion that the applicant-convict has a fair chance of acquittal" and refused to suspend his sentence, observing that once a person stands convicted of a serious offence, "the presumption of innocence would no longer exist".

Rejecting Sai's plea based on prolonged incarceration, the High Court had also held that he himself had contributed to the delay in disposal of his appeal by repeatedly pursuing bail applications instead of pressing for final hearing. "It is on record that the applicant-accused is never ready for hearing the appeal... the convict himself has created a situation for his long incarceration," a Bench of Justices Ilesh J. Vora and R.T. Vachhani had observed.

The High Court further remarked that Sai "is not interested at all in expeditious hearing of his appeal" and, by adopting delay tactics and filing repeated applications, had disentitled himself from discretionary relief.

Sai was convicted by a Surat trial court on April 30, 2019, in a case involving the repeated sexual assault of a woman devotee. He was found guilty under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 376(2)(c) (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences), and sentenced to life imprisonment, with all sentences directed to run concurrently.

According to the prosecution, the survivor had come in contact with Narayan Sai during religious discourses organised at the Surat Ashram in 2001. She alleged that he sexually assaulted and repeatedly exploited her at different ashrams in Bihar, Surat and Gambhoi between 2001 and 2004. The FIR was lodged in October 2013 after, according to the prosecution, she gathered courage following the arrest of Sai's father, Asaram, in a similar sexual assault case.

The Gujarat High Court had accepted the trial court's findings that the survivor's testimony inspired confidence and that the delay in lodging the FIR stood satisfactorily explained in view of the influence wielded by Sai and his father over their followers.

Narayan Sai was arrested by the Delhi Police near the Punjab-Haryana border in December 2013 after remaining on the run and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.