Asaram jailed

The prosecution produced 44 witnesses and 160 documents to prove the case against Asaram.

The court held Asaram guilty of trafficking a minor [section 370(4)], rape by one or more persons constituting a group or acting in furtherance of a common intention (section 376D), rape of minor (section 376(2)(f)), wrongful confinement (section 342), criminal intimidation (section 506), word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (section 509), sexual harassment (section 354A), and several sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice Act.

However, the punishment was announced only under sections 370 (4), 342, 376 (2) (F) and 376 (D) of the Indian Penal Code and 23 section of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

“We will study the Judgment and file an appeal in the Rajasthan High Court,” Asaram’s Counsel Sajjanraj Surana said.

The special court pronounced its verdict in the court which hears cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in Jodhpur’s Central Jail. Judge Sharma reached the special courtroom in Central Jail at 9 in the morning. He marked the presence of the accused and their counsel in the order-sheet and shortly afterwards, Asaram and two co-accused were convicted.

The court asked the defence and the prosecution to argue on the sentencing. Defence counsel Surana requested the court to consider Asaram’s advanced age in pronouncing the sentence while public prosecutor Pokarram Vishnoi sought maximum punishment for the accused.

The minor victim had in August 2013 accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur. The girl was a student staying in the ashram.

Asaram was arrested on August 31, 2013 and sent to Jodhpur Central Jail.

Asaram’s troubles began in 2008 when the mutilated bodies of two cousins and gurukul mates Dipesh Vaghela (10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11) were found from the Sabarmati river bank near his ashram in Motera. Some vital organs were missing from the boys’ bodies.

Shantilal Vaghela, Abhishek’s father, staged an indefinite fast accusing Asaram of killing the boys for black magic rituals.