Asaram Bapu convicted in rape case: Rare courage of victim amid humongous threat

EW DELHI: If there was one gripping narrative that emerged from the sentencing of powerful godman Asaram Bapu by a Rajasthan court on Wednesday for the rape of a 16-year-old girl five years ago, it was the courage with which the victim fought the case against all odds.

Right from her father to the police officer who supervised the case to her school principal to her counsel, the chorus was on her tenacity to see it through despite intimidation bordering on threat to life. 

It was not just her family that was threatened. Much like her dad said they had to stay indoors fearing attack from Asaram’s goons, IPS officer Ajay Pal Lamba, who was then posted as the deputy commissioner of police in Jodhpur West and oversaw the probe, said he received more than 2,000 threatening letters and hundreds of intimidatory phone calls.

The threats were so serious that at one point, he could not send his daughter to school and did not let his wife step out of the house, he revealed.

Imagine, then, the scale of terror unleashed by the godman’s henchmen to force the complainant to withdraw the case. Also, a battery of top-notch lawyers including Ram Jethmalani, Salman Khurshid and Siddharth Luthra appeared for Asaram.

Nine witnesses who dared to testify against him were attacked, three of them killed. Yet, she stood rock-solid and finally got justice. 

On Wednesday, her dad said: “For the past four-and-a-half years, we were living in constant terror, and our business was adversely hit. Yet, my courageous daughter refused to yield.”

The principal of the school in Shahjahanapur where she studied, said he had been facing threats to rig the teen’s date of birth in the school records to make it appear she was not a minor, so as to help the godman evade stringent punishment under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Her lawyer Utsav Bains said: “The girl deserves a national award for her courage, as she stood by her testimony in court despite lots of pressure by the Asaram’s henchmen. Her family had gone through hell.”

Betrayed the trust of devotees

In his 453-page judgment, special court judge Madhusudan Sharma said Asaram’s heinous act had “not merely shattered the faith of his devotees in him but has also harmed the reputation of saints among common people”.

Referring to the faith of the victim’s father, he said: “He (the victim’s father) had so much respect for Asaram that he had sent both his son and daughter for studies at Asaram’s gurukul at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. Yet the accused raped the victim after calling her to his ashram on the pretext of holding a jap (an elaborate worship with recital of holy mantras) to cure her of the influence of evil spirits. He had also bragged about how top officers fall at his feet.”

The verdict

• Asaram will stay in prison till his natural death, Jodhpur-based special court judge Madhusudan Sharma ruled on Wednesday.
• He also imposed a Rs 1 lakh penalty on him.
• While two were let off, two others were awarded 20-year imprisonment.

Case file

• Aug 15, 2013: Asaram calls 16-yr-old to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur from his ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh, allegedly rapes her at night.

• Nov 6, 2013: Chargesheet filed against Asaram, four others.

• Sept 1, 2013: Asaram arrested in Indore, brought to Jodhpur.