Supreme Court Allows Special Leave Appeal in Asaram Bapu Case

Today, the Special Leave Appeal filed by the State of Rajasthan was allowed by the Supreme Court of India. The appeal was filed against the order and judgment delivered by the Rajasthan High Court to summon IPS Officer Ajay Pal Lamba as a court witness related to Asaram’s appeal challenging his conviction in a rape case (minor). The case was presented before the two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The bench stated that “We have allowed the appeal and set aside the impugned judgment. We request the High Court to take up the appeal for hearing expeditiously.”

The appeal filed by Asaram challenging his conviction was pending before the High Court. In his appeal, he urged that the entire prosecution case was not true and fabricated. Further, in this case, an application was moved to summon Mr. Lamba claiming that the victim was tutored on grounds of some crime scene videos shot by him. It was also highlighted in the application that on the accounts mentioned in the book, Gunning For the Godman, the True Story Behind Asaram Bapu’s Conviction, co-authored by Mt. Ajay Pal Lamba, the claim can be substantiated. The High Court then allowed the application after hearing the arguments while the top Court stayed the order while issuing the notice. 

The order delivered by the High Court stated that “The video would definitely be a valuable piece of evidence because it was recorded during the first visit by a police officer to the crime scene. Shri Lamba was not examined in evidence at the trial…Now with the publication of the book the defence has the right to claim that video of the crime scene was unquestionably recorded which fact is sufficient to convince the Court that it is absolutely essential which fact is sufficient to convince the Court that it is absolutely essential in the interest of justice and for a just decision of the case to exercise the power under Section 391 Cr.P.C. for summoning and examining Shri Ajay Pal Lamba as a court witness in this case while giving access of cross-examination to the defence as well as prosecution.”

Mr. Manish Singhvi, Senior Advocate representing the state, argued that the book clearly illustrates that it is dramatized version and that the application filed before the HC was on semi-fictional grounds. On a contrary, Mr. Devadutt Kamat, Senior Advocate appearing for Asaram opined that there were various contradictions in the FIR recorded from 19th to 21st August 2013. He further alleged that the Trial Court dismissed Asaram’s submissions stating that there was a lack of evidence to demonstrate whether the video was shown to the survivor or not. Hearing the contentions of both sides, the Supreme Court set aside the judgment of the HC and allowed the appeal.