New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the order of the Gujarat high court’s 14-day furlough to rape convict Narayan Sai, son of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and B.V. Nagarathna allowed the appeal of the Gujarat government challenging the June 24 order of the high court granting furlough to Sai.
According to LiveLaw, the bench said that furlough can be granted after a stipulated number of years have been served, without any reason. The purpose for the same is to allow the prisoner to continue with family life and integration in the society, it observed.
However, the bench added that while furlough can be claimed without a reason, a prisoner does not have an absolute legal right to furlough and it depends on various factors. The grant of furlough has to be balanced against public interest and furlough can be refused to certain categories of prisoners.
It said the jail superintendent has given a negative opinion for grant of furlough to Sai as a mobile phone was found from his cell.
On August 12, the top court had stayed the Gujarat high court order giving two-week furlough to Sai.
The apex court bench had said that under the Bombay Furlough and Parole Rules, applicable in Gujarat as well, a prisoner can be granted furlough once every year after he completes seven years in jail. It further noted that when Sai was in jail, the Surat Police had claimed to have unearthed elaborate plans to bribe police officers, doctors and even judicial officers to weaken the case against him.
The single-judge bench of the Gujarat high court had ordered the release of Sai on furlough for two weeks on June 24, 2021, but the division bench had stayed it till August 13 and thereafter, the state government moved the top court challenging the June 24 order.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government, had contended that even in a 2006 decision of the Supreme Court in Suresh Pandurang Darvakar’s case, the grant of furlough is not a matter of right and is subject to certain conditions.
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The state government had said Sai and his father were arrested for offences under rape charges and they wield considerable influence with money and muscle power. On April 26, 2019, Sai was convicted under the Indian Penal Code sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 323 (assault), 506-2 (criminal intimidation), and 120-B (conspiracy) by a Surat court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 2013, Asaram was arrested for allegedly raping a girl in Rajasthan after two Surat-based sisters had accused Asaram and his son of sexual exploitation. The elder sister had accused Asaram of sexual assaulting her between 1997 and 2006 when she lived at his Ahmedabad ashram.
The younger sister had accused the godman’s son of sexual assault when she lived at Asaram’s ashram in the Jahangirpura area of Surat between 2002 and 2005.
The incidents of multiple sexual assaults and unnatural sex with the victim had taken place between 2002 and 2005, but the case against Sai had been filed only in 2013.
Sai was arrested from the Delhi-Haryana border in December 2013.
(With PTI inputs)