Asaram Bapu, who has been accused of multiple sexual assault cases in the past few years, has finally been convicted in a rape case that dates back to 2013. The self-styled godman was convicted by a court in Gandhinagar over nine years after the complaint was filed.
A former disciple of Asaram Bapu lodged a case of rape against him during her earlier stay in his ashram back in 2013, and a Gujarat court convicted him on the allegations of sexual assault lodged against him. It is expected that the court will announce the sentence for the self-styled godman on Tuesday.
"The court convicted Asaram Bapu under sections 376 2 (C) for rape, 377 (unnatural offences), 342 (Wrongful detention), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 357 (assault) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code," said special public prosecutor RC Kodekar, as per PTI reports.
Here is all you need to know about the sexual assault case against Asaram Bapu –
In 2013, Asaram Bapu was accused of rape by a minor girl who hailed from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. The girl had alleged that Asaram Bapu had raped her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15.
Further, a woman disciple from Surat had filed a rape case against Asaram Bapu and six others on October 6, 2013, alleging that she was raped on several occasions from 2001 to 2006 when she was living at his ashram at Motera near Ahmedabad before she managed to escape.
Notably, the victim's younger sister was raped and illegally confined by Asaram's son Narayan Sai. Sai was sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court in Surat in April 2019 in the rape case filed against him by his former disciple in 2013.
Over the years, several witnesses and people from the ashram of Asaram Bapu were attacked on multiple occasions, seemingly in a way to silence them from testifying against the self-styled godman.
While the 81-year-old godman is serving a life sentence in a prison in Jodhpur for raping a minor girl, the sentence regarding the current conviction in Gujarat will be announced by the Gandhinagar court most likely by tomorrow.
(With PTI inputs)
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