By MAIL TODAY BUREAU

PUBLISHED: 23:43 GMT, 3 July 2014 | UPDATED: 23:43 GMT, 3 July 2014

Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu is facing trial in a rape case filed by a Surat-based woman who has accused him of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006

Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu is facing trial in a rape case filed by a Surat-based woman who has accused him of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’s bail plea in a rape case lodged against him in Surat, Gujarat, but agreed to hear his petition for bail in another rape case filed in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The SC bench asked the 76-year-old godman, who has been in jail since September 2013, to approach the Gujarat HC to get bail.

Asaram is facing trial in a rape case filed by a Surat-based woman who has accused him of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006, when she was living in his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The bench, however, issued notice to Rajasthan government on his bail plea in Jodhpur case asking it to file its response and posted the case for hearing in August.