JNU scholar Umar Khalid will have to wait till Monday for the Supreme Court to continue hearing his bail plea as the apex court deferred the matter on Thursday.
On the same day, a division bench of Gujarat High Court granted a six-month suspension of sentence to rape convict Asaram in a 2013 case.
In the apex court, a division bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice N.V. Anjaria adjourned the matter for hearing.
On the next day when the bench resumes, counsel for Delhi police will make the arguments against granting bail to Umar and others accused of a larger conspiracy in the 2019 Delhi riots case.
Umar has spent over five years behind bars in the high-security Tihar jail.
Asaram had been granted suspension of sentence and released on bail by Rajasthan High Court last month. The court granted the appeal considering his “vegetative condition” and the lack of medical facilities in the prison to treat his condition.
In April 2018 a Jodhpur sessions court had served a life sentence to Asaram for raping a minor at his ashram in 2013.
On Thursday morning, before the division bench of Justice Ilesh J. Vora and Justice R.T. Vachhani, Asaram’s counsel Devadatt Kamat submitted the Rajasthan High Court order suspending the punishment.
After perusing the order, the bench said, “Granted on the same line. We will modify it accordingly in six months,” as quoted by legal news websites.
Kamat had requested the court to consider Asaram’s medical condition and age.
“Whenever the appeal is listed we will argue it. We are not trying to delay.
A sessions court in Gandhinagar had also served another life sentence to Asaram in another rape case from 2013.
The state counsel informed the Gujarat High Court bench that medical facilities could be provided to Asaram in a Gujarat jail.
Objecting to the appeal, B.B. Naik, the counsel for the rape survivor, submitted: “Last time I have said that he wants to tour India. This is noted by Rajasthan High Court also in August 27 order. Today he is taking treatment. Certificates produced do not say he is critical.”