Asaram Bapu, Sentenced Life Imprisonment in 2013 Rape Lawsuit
On January 30, a district court docket in Gujarat held Asaram Bapu responsible of rape and prison intimidation. The proceedings have come after a ladies disciple filed a rape case in opposition to the previous religious chief.
The district court docket held Ashupal Harpalani, Alias Bapu and his spouse responsible of rape together with the co-accused. District court docket choose D Ok Soni held Asaram Bapu responsible below IPC Sections 376 (2)(c) (being on the administration or workers of custody established by or below any legislation in the interim in power or of a lady’s or kids’s establishment takes benefit of his official place and commits rape on any inmate of such place), 377 (unnatural intercourse), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506(2) (prison intimidation), 354 (assault with intent to outrage modesty of a lady) and 357 (assault to wrongfully confine a pertain).
The court docket has additionally imposed a superb of fifty,000 rupees on him. The prior conviction of Asaram was held in 2018 when he was discovered responsible of raping a minor. The Jodhpur court docket additionally sentenced him to life imprisonment which he’s at the moment serving in Jodhpur Central Jail.
Different people who find themselves co-accused within the case.
The guru was convicted of rape, sodomy, molestation, unlawful detention and utilizing power to illegally confine the survivor. The six others convicted embrace his spouse Lakshmi; his daughter Bharti; his ashram workplace bearer Dhruvben Balani and worker Jaswantiben alongside together with his followers Mira and Nirmala.
Supply: Twitter
Asaram’s advocate Chandrashekar stated “The opposite accused have been acquitted for need of proof in opposition to them, and the court docket has not believed the cost of prison conspiracy,” The 81-year-old was current within the court docket by way of a video hyperlink and has been utilizing this methodology for all his previous trials.
The one individual current contained in the court docket was his attorneys as his spouse couldn’t be current resulting from her hospitalization and his daughter couldn’t attain on time. The court docket did wait to ship its verdict as Bapu’s household was not current. Due to this fact all of the processing was held in-camera and nobody was allowed contained in the court docket.
Overview of Asaram’s Rape Case
Throughout the trial. The prosecutor examined greater than 60 witnesses. The last decade-ago case begins when a former devotee accused the godman of raping her at his ashram in Motera, Ahmedabad. She was raped between 1997 and 2006. Her youthful sister additionally accused his son, Narayan Sai, of sexually exploiting her in his ashram in Surat. His son was additionally convicted of rape and had the identical destiny as his father.
After this, an FIR was registered with Chandkheda police station in opposition to him and an SIT was shaped to analyze all the costs. After the decision got here out his devotees in California Ashram issued an announcement by way of their Twitter deal with and stated “ The judgment in opposition to Bapu on the age of 86 defies all established norms and authorized precedences. A transparent travesty of justice anticipated
on the behest of politicians who need possession of the Ashram.”
Supply: Twitter
Timeline of the case: From Godman to Rape convict for the second time.
Asaram Bapu was initially accused of raping and sexually assaulting his ladies devotees in 2013. With the latest developments within the case, he has been held responsible of all the costs in opposition to him and has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted of raping a 16-year-old woman in 2013.
Gandhinagar Case Timeline:
August 2013: Jodhpur police arrested Asaram Bapu for rapping a teen.
September 2013: Police filed a criticism in opposition to him after Surat-based ladies accused him of sexually assaulting him.
January 2023: The court docket provides a verdict and holds Asaram Bapu responsible of rape and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Jodhpur Case Timeline:
15 August 2013: The day of sexual assault as talked about by the sufferer.
20 August 2013: Sufferer’s mother and father filed an FIR in opposition to the godman on the Delhi police station. Additional, the case was transferred to Jodhpur police.
23 August 2013: Huge outage by former religious chief’s supporters in Kamla Market police station.
Supply: Financial Occasions
29 August 2013: Sai, his son alleged that the sufferer is mentally unstable and that he’s been focused by the congress chief minister and social gathering members.
31 August 2013: Asaram Bapu was arrested by Jodhpur police below the costs of raping a teen and was despatched to jail by the court docket.
6 November 2013: Jodhpur police filed a chargesheet in opposition to him and 4 others.
13 February 2014: The godman pleaded not responsible to all the costs.
19 August 2014: Supreme court docket rejected his plea for bail.
1 January 2015: A 7- member AIIMS medical board examined Asaram as per an SC directive.
February 2015: A witness within the case was stabbed exterior the native court docket.
July 2015: A witness turned hostile, and one other shot at Shahjahanpur.
7 April 2018: Last arguments within the case had been accomplished within the court docket and the decision was reserved.
25 April 2018: Asaram Bapu was convicted of raping a teen by the Jodhpur court docket and sentenced to life imprisonment below IPC sections 342, 376(2) (F), 376 D, 354 A, 506 and 109.
