New Delhi: Godman Asaram Bapu has been convicted by the Gandhinagar court in a 10-year-old rape case and will be sentenced on January 31. He is already serving a sentence in Jodhpur jail for a rape case and this marks his second conviction. Asaram’s son Narayan Sai, his wife Lakshmi, his daughter Bharti and four of his followers were also among the accused but they were acquitted due to lack of en evidence.
Gandhinagar sessions court convicted self-styled godman Asaram in connection with a decade-old sexual assault case. Asaram was accused by a Surat-based woman of repeatedly raping her while she was at his ashram in Ahmedabad’s Motera around 10 years ago. pic.twitter.com/ryVeTdrWdA
— ANI (@ANI) January 30, 2023
He was earlier convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl in his Jodhpur Ashram in 2013, where he went under Section 376 of the IPC, the Protection of Children under Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act. The godman was accused of sexual assault of a Surat-based woman, who was staying at the Ashram in Motera. The Gandhinagar court found him guilty and will pronounce the quantum of the punishment tomorrow.
Gandhinagar Case Timeline:
# Surat-based devotee accused Asaram of rape.
# 31 August 2013: Jodhpur police arrested Asaram for the rape of a teenager.
# September 2013: Police file a complaint against the Godman in the rape case of the Surat-based devotee
# 30 January 2023: Gandhinagar court gives the verdict and holds Asaram guilty of rape.
Jodhpur Case Timeline:
# 15 August 2013: The day of alleged sexual assault.
# 20 August 2013: Victim’s parents filed a complaint in Delhi and the case was transferred to Jodhpur police.
# 23 August 2013: Asaram’s supporters attacked Kamla Market police station in Delhi.
# 28-29 August 2013: Asaram’s son called the victim mentally unstable, while the accused alleged that then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi targeted him.
# 31 August 2013: Jodhpur police arrested Asaram for the rape of a teenager and was sent to jail by the court.
# 6 November 2013: Jodhpur police filed a chargesheet against Asaram and four others.
# 13 February 2014: Asaram pleaded not guilty to the charges.
# 19 August 2014: Supreme Court rejected his bail plea.
# 1 January 2015: A 7-member AIIMS medical board examined Asaram as per an SC directive.
# February 2015: Rahul K Sachan, a witness in the case was stabbed outside the local court.
# 8 July 2015: A witness, Sudha Pathak, turned hostile and said, in the court, that she had no knowledge of the accused’s activities.
# July 2015: A witness, Kripal Singh was shot at in Shahjahanpur.
# 7 April 2018: Final arguments in the case were completed in the court of SC/ST cases Special Judge Madhu Sudan Sharma and the verdict was reserved.
# 25 April 2018: Asaram was convicted by the Jodhpur court for raping a teenager. He was sentenced to life imprisonment under the IPC Sections 342 (Wrongful confinement), 376(2)(F) (Rape of a minor girl), 376 D (Rape), 354 A (Outraging the modesty of a woman), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 109 (Abetment to an offence).
