Ahmedabad: In a significant development self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu who was convicted by Gandhinagar on Monday, was given life imprisonment by the court on Tuesday. Bapu was convicted of raping former woman disciple from 2001 to 2006. Sessions court judge D K Soni pronounced the ruling after hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence.
Interestingly enough the 81-year-old man is already lodged in a Jodhpur jail, where he is serving life sentence for raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013. Asaram who has thousands of followers across India with extensive money and muscle power was arrested on August 31, 2013 on the basis of the complaint lodged by a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh's Shahajahanpur who accused the god-man of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15.
In April 2018, Asaram was sentenced to life in prison for raping the 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh. In addition to the life term in prison, he was also charged under two other laws for which he got another 20 years in jail.
When in jail, another woman from Surat filed a case of rape and illegal confinement against Asaram in October 2013. The woman in her FIR registered at Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad on October 6, 2013, mentioned that Asaram Bapu and six others had raped her on several occasions from 2001 to 2006.
The woman disciple who hails from the outskirts of Surat had also mentioned in her complaint that she was illegally confined in the god-man’s ashram in Surat. She had also alleged that Asaram’s son, his wife and daughter were also involved in the whole thing.
"The court has accepted the prosecution case and convicted Asaram under sections 376 2(C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code for illegal detention, among others," special public prosecutor RC Kodekar had said on Monday.
Apprehending communal violence security had been tightened in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana. Last year, Uttar Pradesh police stepped up security for the family of the victim after her father claimed a threat to his life and that of his family members from the supporters of the self-styled 'godman'.
