BANGALORE: Seven weeks after his arrest, self-styled godman Nityananda Swami, facing rape and other criminal charges, is all set to walk free with the High Court today granting him conditional bail.

32-year-old Nityananda had eluded police after a TV channel telecast in March purported video footage of him in a compromising position with a Tamil actress. He was arrested by the CID in Solan district in Himachal Pradesh on April 21 and lodged in the Ramanagara jail here since then.

Allowing his bail plea, Justice B Adi, however, restrained Nityananda from spiritual preaching, saying hurting people's feelings is "worse than a stab injury". The court said "the video footage has hurt the feelings of people. Hurting peoples' feelings is worse than a stab injury".

"Nityananda has fallen short of his image as a spiritual head, a sanyasi and a guru who should be free from all attachments and should have strong determination and courage", the judge said.

Nityananda, who was asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties, is expected to walk out of the jail early next week as it may take some time to complete legal formalities.

The godman also faces charges of criminal intimidation and cheating. The judge said since there was no evidence so far about the criminal charges in the material collected and the memo filed by the public prosecutor, the "court has no option but to enlarge Nityananda on bail as his personal liberty is involved".

The court, however, imposed a rider that Nityananda will not be allowed to conduct spiritual preaching classes except yoga and meditation. He was also restrained from leaving the juridiction of police without informing and asked to appear in the police station once in 15 days.

The court also referred in detail to the investigation material placed before it and recorded findings as to why the charges made in the two FIRs still stood unsubstantiated.

Noting that Article 21 of the Constitution provides for personal liberty and freedom to every citizen, the court said that in view the facts and circumstances (before it), his detention was not warranted.

It also said though an appeal was issued to the public through the newspapers by the investigating officer calling upon them to register complaints if they had any against Nityananda, there was no response.