Supreme Court refuses to suspend jail sentence of Asaram Bapu’s son Narayan Sai in rape case

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to interfere with the Gujarat High Court's refusal to suspend convicted self-styled preacher Narayan Sai's conviction and life imprisonment sentence in a 2013 rape case.

However, a Bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice PB Varale directed the High Court to give its verdict on Sai's appeal against his rape conviction in a time-bound manner. .

"We request the High Court to make an endeavour to dispose of the appeal within a period of 3 months. We make it clear that the petitioner and the State will cooperate," ordered the Court.

The Court also clarified that if the appeal was not decided within three months, Sai would be at liberty to approach it again for relief.

"In any way you (Sai) or they (State) will come before us after 3 months. Then we will consider… even if it's over, it's not going to end there. It'll come before us then we will see about it," observed the Court.

The matter concerns a rape case filed in 2013 against Asaram Bapu’s son, Narayan Sai.

Sai was convicted by a Surat sessions court in April 2019 for raping a former disciple. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. His appeal against the conviction is pending before the Gujarat High Court.

The Gujarat High Court, by an order dated May 4, 2026, rejected Sai's fifth application seeking interim bail and the suspension of his jail sentence until his appeal is decided.

The High Court held that it could not prima facie conclude that Sai had a fair chance of acquittal. It observed that, after conviction for serious offences, the presumption of innocence no longer survived. It also rejected his contention that prolonged incarceration warranted the suspension of his sentence.

The High Court also said that Sai himself was responsible for the delay in hearing his appeal. It noted that instead of arguing the appeal, he had repeatedly filed bail applications, some of which he later withdrew or chose not to pursue. The High Court said this conduct was a reason to deny him relief.

This ruling was challenged before the Supreme Court.

Senior Advocate N Hariharan represented Sai in today's hearing of the matter. The senior counsel submitted that despite moving an application seeking early disposal, Sai's appeal had not been taken up for hearing by the High Court.

"Twelve years have gone by. The offence is also not made out on the face of it," argued Hariharan.

The Court responded that Sai should press his case before the High Court on merits.

"Be confident and argue that. We will ask the High Court to do it," remarked the Court.

Hariharan further submitted that although the Supreme Court had earlier directed the High Court to consider Sai's plea for suspension of sentence on merits, the matter had not been heard.

The top court, however, was not inclined to go into the merits of these aspects and confined to directing the High Court to hear Sai's appeal in a timely manner.

"Ld. Counsel for petitioner is disputing the observations made in the impugned order. He submits that the petitioner is always ready and willing to contest the appeal. We are not inclined to go into the said issue as the respondent (State) is willing for early disposal," observed the Court.

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