From ashram to behind bars
“Only 5-6 people are not culprits. The (December 16 gang-rape victim) is as guilty as her rapists... She should have called the culprits brothers and begged them to stop...” ASARAM, Self-styled godman
Asaram was arrested in 2013 after a teenage devotee accused him of raping her at a religious event. Another female follower also later accused him of rape. He has been in jail since 2013 on charges of rape and criminal intimidation. Here is a look at the sequence of events since Asaram’s arrest:
2013
AUGUST 15-16: Asaram rapes the minor at his ashram in Jodhpur. The girl came to his ashram after she fainted at school and her hostel warden told her parents she was possessed by an ‘evil spirit’. In his preachings, Asaram urged followers to live a ‘pious life’ free of sexual desires
AUGUST 19: The survivor tells her parents about the incident and they lodge a complaint at a police station in New Delhi
AUGUST 20: The police register a ‘Zero FIR,’ or first information report, at 2.45am after a medical exam and the statement of the victim is recorded. A ‘Zero FIR’ can be registered at any police station and can later be shifted to the police station that has jurisdiction over a case
AUGUST 21: On the basis of the ‘Zero FIR’, the case is transferred to Jodhpur. Police register an FIR against Asaram under Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code and Juvenile
Justice Act
AUGUST 31:
Jodhpur police arrest Asaram and take him to Central Jail. The police arrest him after his supporters clash with television news crews OCTOBER 6: Another rape case is filed against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai on the complaint of two sisters from Surat. They allege they were raped during their stay in an ashram in the mid-2000s
NOVEMBER 6: The police file a charge-sheet in the Jodhpur case. The charges include those of sexual assault and illegally confining a minor. The police also charge four others accused — Sharad Chandra, Shilpi Gupta, Shiva and Prakash
NOVEMBER 29: A trial court takes cognisance of the charges against four accused, including Asaram
2014
FEBRUARY 13: The trial court frames charges against Asaram and three other accused
MARCH 19: Trial begins in the case with testimony of prosecution witnesses
JULY 10: A witness in the case dies because of serious injuries from being shot in Rajkot on May 23. An Ayurveda expert, he was a key Asaram aide for 15 years, but later parted ways
2015
FEBRUARY 13: A witness is attacked with a knife by one of Asaram’s followers at a court complex in Jodhpur
MAY 13: An aide to Asaram and his son, Narayan Sai, is attacked in Panipat. He is a witness in the second rape case. He told a court that there was a network that would “supply girls” to Asaram
JULY 10: A witness in the first rape case is shot at in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur
2016
AUGUST 6: The prosecution finishes recording statements of 44 witnesses and exhibits 160 documents
2017
OCTOBER 11: The defence records statements of 31 witnesses and exhibits 225 documents
2018
APRIL 7: Final arguments in the case are completed and the special Scheduled Casts/Scheduled Ttribes court in Jodhpur reserves its judgment for April 25