Buzz missing in ashram
AHMEDABAD/JODHPUR: Outside the ashram of self-styled godman Asaram at Motera on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, the usual buzz was missing on Wednesday. At the entrance to the ashram, which is packed with his followers and staff on other days, only police and media personnel were to be seen.
In small groups, Asaram’s followers had arrived early in the morning for their daily routine of holding prayers and chanting shlokas behind the tall, grilled gates of the sprawling ashram on the banks of the Sabarmati river. Many of them tried to avoid the media and all that some of them had to say in response to questions was “Hari Om”.
The only statement came from DG Vanzara, a former Indian Police Service officer who is an accused in the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, a case which dates back to 2004.
“Neither the FIR (first information report) nor the charge sheet anywhere mentions that it was a case of rape. Even the complainant girl never used the word ‘rape’,” said Vanzara, brandishing a copy of the FIR. “We do respect the court’s judgement but the Constitution of India offers a four-layer judiciary system, from local to the Supreme Court. I am confident that the high court will acquit him.”
Gujarat police had stepped up security outside Asaram’s two ashrams in the state, in Ahmedabad and Surat. More than 50 police personnel, led by a deputy commissioner of police, were deployed at the Motera ashram; around 40 policemen were maintaining vigil in the Sabarmati area and around 100 police as well as personnel from the State Reserve Police Force were deployed at various places in Chandkheda, deputy commissioner of police HR Muliana said.
“Adequate police force was deployed since morning outside Asaram’s another ashram in Jahangirpura area of Surat district,” a police official said.
“No untoward incident anywhere in Gujarat was reported. Adequate security measures have been taken to maintain law and order,” said deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.
In Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, the white two-storey cottage where the 16-year-old girl was raped by Asaram wore a similarly deserted look. It is partially shrouded by trees in the middle of a farm. The cottage was built by Vishnu Deora, one of Asaram’s over 20 million devotees, some 30km from Jodhpur. The road leading to Deora’s estate is deserted and marked by scant vegetation on both sides and the intermittent sight of cattle resting under the shade of trees. JAIPUR: Shilpi Gupta alias Sanchita was warden of the Chhindwara gurukul, a traditional residential school, in MP. A resident of Mall Shri Vihar, VIP Road, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Shilpi was arrested on September 25, 2013 on charges of being complicit in the rape of a teenager by self-styled godman Asaram. According to the police charge sheet, Gupta did not accompany the girl to a doctor when she was taken ill and instead told the girl that she was under the influence of some supernatural spirit.
Gupta was charged with sending the minor to Asaram at his Jodhpur retreat on the pretext that he would cure her. She was charged with abetment under section 17 of the POCSO Act. The Jodhpur court found her guilty of all the charges, including trafficking of a minor, wrongful confinement, sexual harassment, criminal intimidation, word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman, rape of a minor and gang rape. Sharadchandra alias Sharatchandra was director of Shri Shakti Trust and also of the Chhindwara residential school. In its charge sheet, Jodhpur police said the man instilled a fear of the supernatural in the teenager’s mind. He called her to his office and used another student in the hostel to show her that she was under the influence of a spirit and blamed that for her illness. The court found him guilty of making the girl believe that only Asaram could cure her. Both have been sentenced to 20 years in jail.