Asaram Bapu convicted by Jodhpur court in rape of 16 year old girl
Jodhpur/UP: The Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court had convicted Asaram and all other accused in the rape of a 16 Years old girl. Asaram Bapu was jailed for allegedly raping a teenage girl. Asaram was jailed for the last four and a half years. The 77-year-old man shall face a minimum term of 10 years in jail if the court convicts him.
The convict is likely to appeal the verdict in a higher court. The 77 years old guru of Yoga and meditation has 400 ashrams around the world. He is also standing trial in another rape case in Gujarat.
Asaram and all other accused have been convicted by Jodhpur Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Court in a rape case pic.twitter.com/6eoSyIymiL
— ANI (@ANI) April 25, 2018
According to media reports, Asaram is accused of raping a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The girl was studying at the ashram run by the accused at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The girl alleged in the charge sheet that her parents were deceived into bringing her to his ashram near Jodhpur in 2013. The attendants at the ashram in Chhindwara said she was possessed by evil spirits and needed to be exorcised. There she was sexually assaulted by Asaram.
The charge sheet filed by the investigation team against Asaram accuses him of rape, trafficking. The verdict is expected to be under a stringent law on sexual crimes against children that could entail a life term if charges are proved.
Asaram, the accused was taken into police custody in August 2013. Later he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court after a month.
Reportedly, 12 bail applications of this self-styled godman were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court.
The security forces have deployed heavy security in Jodhpur, where the sentence will be pronounced inside the jail premises. The police have sealed the entry points to the city. Moreover, the forces have evacuated Asaram’s ashram to avoid any sort of mass movement. Rail and road traffic are also under heavy security. As the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana have a large number of Asaram followers, the centre has the governments to tighten security.
