Asaram moves Supreme Court against 'media trial'

Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a minor, on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court, seeking to restrain the media from carrying out its own trial against him.

The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam which asked him to file a proper petition and posted it for hearing on October 21.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the controversial spiritual guru, submitted before the bench that the media should be restrained from conducting a trial, otherwise he will not get a fair trial.

"Media is convicting me prior to the trial and I will not get a fair trial," the counsel argued.

He also urged the court to restrain the media from carrying speculative reports about Asaram, his family and his ashrams in the wake of rape allegations against him.

The counsel said that Asaram has no objection if the media correctly reports the court proceedings, but it should be restrained from carrying speculative reports portraying his ashrams as some kind of brothels.

He further said there were 10,000 boys and girls studying in his clients' ashrams and the media reports were adversely affecting them.

Asaram, 72, was arrested in August on charges of sexually assaulting a minor girl and he has been in prison at Jodhpur in Rajasthan since then.