JODHPUR: Self-styled godman Asaram has challenged his conviction in a rape case and filed a petition before the Rajasthan High Court that reopened after summer vacation on Monday. Asaram had been sentenced to life imprisonment on April 25 for sexual exploitation of a minor girl at his gurukul near Jodhpur.In the same matter, the high court admitted similar petitions by two co-accused Sanchita Gupta alias Shilpi and Sharad Chandra and called for the case’s records from the trial court on Monday.According to the petitioners’ counsel Nishant Bora, the trio will soon be filing bail applications in the court.“We challenged the sentence of Asaram in high court today, while the sentences of two other co-accused had already been challenged. The high court has called for the records of case from the trial court,” Bora said.A sentence can be challenged within two months of its pronouncement but on account of lawyers’ month-long protest in Jodhpur, Asaram’s appeal could not be filed. Jodhpur lawyers had boycotted judicial work in protest against the demand by Udaipur lawyers for establishing HC’s circuit bench in Udaipur. According to sources, Asaram has taken utmost precaution in preparing the appeal’s draft as his bail applications before the conviction were all turned down from the trial court to the Supreme Court. The appeal draft is said to have been prepared by different noted advocates and was finalized by an advocate from the Supreme Court before filing it in the high court on Monday.Despite roping in noted advocates from across the nation, Asaram’s bail applications before the conviction were rejected 12 times between the trial court and the Supreme Court. Now after filing an appeal before the high court, the application for bail will be moved.On the other hand, the acquittal of two other co-accused Shiva and Prakash in the same rape case has been challenged by the rape survivor’s lawyer.

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