SC asks Gujarat HC to decide Narayan Sai’s appeal against rape conviction within three months
The Supreme Court on Friday (August 7, 2026) declined to interfere with the Gujarat High Court’s refusal to suspend the life sentence of Narayan Sai
The Supreme Court on Friday (August 7, 2026) declined to interfere with the Gujarat High Court’s refusal to suspend the life sentence of Narayan Sai, son of self-styled godman Asaram, in a 2013 rape case. It, however, asked the High Court to decide his appeal against the conviction within three months. A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale said it was not inclined to examine Sai’s plea since the Gujarat government had agreed to an expeditious hearing of the pending appeal. “We are not inclined to go into the issue as the respondent State is willing for early disposal of the case. We request the High Court to endeavour to dispose of the appeal within a period of three months,” the Bench said.
Cooperate for early disposal The court directed both Sai and the government to cooperate in the early disposal of the appeal. It also granted Sai liberty to approach the top court again if the appeal was not decided within the stipulated period. Sai had approached the top court against the Gujarat High Court’s May 4 order declining to grant him interim relief. The High Court had observed that he appeared unwilling to pursue an early disposal of his appeal and was instead resorting to “delay tactics” to prolong the proceedings. Appearing for Sai, senior advocate N. Hariharan submitted that the High Court had declined to hear his appeal out of turn despite an application seeking its early disposal.
He further contended that although the Supreme Court had earlier permitted Sai to press his plea for suspension of sentence, the High Court had not considered it. “If you are so confident, you argue it there. We will ask the High Court to decide it early,” the Bench remarked. Narayan Sai has spent more than 12 years in Surat jail following his conviction in a case of sexual assault involving two women. The women had accused him of sexually assaulting them at an ashram in Surat between 2002 and 2005. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment for rape and also convicted him of offences including assault, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
HC’s view The High Court had declined to give Sai’s appeal an out-of-turn hearing, observing that he did not appear keen on its early disposal. “It is on record that the applicant-accused is never ready for hearing the appeal...the convict himself is the contributory factor for passing the time, and thus, now he is not entitled to claim that, due to long incarceration and delay in hearing the appeal, he may be released on bail pending the appeal,” the High Court had said.
The BriefWire