Asaram can now dance behind bars – all his life

A Jodhpur court has sentenced self-styled godman Asaram to life in prison after finding him guilty of raping a teenage girl in his ashram, the second case of a powerful spiritual leader being convicted of a sexual offence in less than a year.

The girl was left alone in his care because Asaram's aides had claimed he could "cure" her of evil spirits that had possessed her. She testified later that he threatened to kill her if she revealed what he had done to her.

The two accomplices were convicted and sent to jail for 20 years each. Two others were acquitted. Asaram broke down on hearing the verdict, which was read out by the Special judge in the Jodhpur Central Jail, where the 77-year-old has been kept for over four years.Asaram has been convicted under the following sections are — sexual assault, outraging a woman's modesty, POCSO, wrongful confinement and criminal conspiracy. He is also convicted of using a 'person as a slave.'

The defence had sought minimum punishment for Asaram and argued that he is not a repeat offender. A spokesperson said that they will appeal in the high court against the verdict.

Asaram was arrested in Indore but later moved to Jodhpur. He appealed 12 times for bail but was turned down each time.

Asaram, who started from a hut on the banks of the Sabarmati, had created a Rs 10,000 crore empire with 400 ashrams in India and other parts of the world.

The principal of the school where Asaram's victim studied was a much-relieved man. The teacher, who is also a witness in the case, said he had been getting threats from Asaram's followers to change the child's date of birth to help the godman evade stringent punishment under the POSCO ACT.

Former Gujarat top cop DG Vanzara came out in defence of Asaram and stated that it was improper to dub him a "rapist". "In the FIR lodged by the victim or in the chargesheet filed, nowhere does it say that the girl was raped. What it says is that he tried to touch her improperly, said Vanzara. According to the former DG the victim never stated that she had been raped even during the trial. One witness in the case had turned hostile, another was stabbed and two others were shot dead.

Asaram’s son is also behind bars. He got into trouble for the first time in 2008, when two cousins, who used to stay at the Gurukul, were found dead in mysterious circumstances on the riverbed near the ashram in 2008.