Gujarat: Court sentences Asaram to life imprisonment in 2013 rape case

By PTI

AHMEDABAD: A courtroom in Gandhinagar on Tuesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, convicted in a rape case filed by a former lady disciple in 2013, to life imprisonment.

The 81-year-old is presently lodged in a Jodhpur jail, the place he’s serving a life sentence in one other case of raping a minor woman at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.

Sessions courtroom choose D K Soni pronounced the ruling after listening to the arguments on the quantum of the sentence.

The courtroom on Monday convicted Asaram in a case registered in 2013 for raping a lady disciple, who hailed from Surat, on a number of events from 2001 to 2006 when she was residing at his ashram at Motera close to Ahmedabad.

The courtroom convicted Asaram underneath Indian Penal Code Sections 376 2 (C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 342 (wrongful detention), 354 (assault or legal drive to lady with intent to outrage her modesty), 357 (assault) and 506 (legal intimidation), within the case lodged by his former lady disciple in 2013.

The courtroom had acquitted six different accused, together with Asaram’s spouse Laxmiben, their daughter, and 4 disciples who had been accused of aiding and abetting the crime, for need of proof, the prosecution stated.

ALSO READ | Asaram Bapu: The rapist preacher who constructed an empire of Rs 10,000 crore

AHMEDABAD: A courtroom in Gandhinagar on Tuesday sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, convicted in a rape case filed by a former lady disciple in 2013, to life imprisonment.

The 81-year-old is presently lodged in a Jodhpur jail, the place he’s serving a life sentence in one other case of raping a minor woman at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.

Sessions courtroom choose D K Soni pronounced the ruling after listening to the arguments on the quantum of the sentence.

The courtroom on Monday convicted Asaram in a case registered in 2013 for raping a lady disciple, who hailed from Surat, on a number of events from 2001 to 2006 when she was residing at his ashram at Motera close to Ahmedabad.

The courtroom convicted Asaram underneath Indian Penal Code Sections 376 2 (C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 342 (wrongful detention), 354 (assault or legal drive to lady with intent to outrage her modesty), 357 (assault) and 506 (legal intimidation), within the case lodged by his former lady disciple in 2013.

The courtroom had acquitted six different accused, together with Asaram’s spouse Laxmiben, their daughter, and 4 disciples who had been accused of aiding and abetting the crime, for need of proof, the prosecution stated.

ALSO READ | Asaram Bapu: The rapist preacher who constructed an empire of Rs 10,000 crore