The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction and life sentence awarded to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in the 2013 rape case involving a minor disciple, while acquitting the co-accused in the case.
A Division Bench of Justices Arun Monga and Yogendra Kumar Purohit partly allowed the connected criminal appeals, affirming Asaram’s conviction while setting aside the convictions of the co-accused for offences under Section 370(4) read with Section 120-B IPC, Section 376-D IPC, and Sections 5(g)/6 and 7/8 of the POCSO Act.
The case arose from allegations by a Class XII student of Asaram’s Chhindwara gurukul, who stated that she was made to believe she was possessed by evil spirits and was taken by her parents to meet Asaram in Jodhpur for spiritual healing. The prosecution alleged that on the night of August 15, 2013, Asaram isolated the minor inside his cottage, sexually assaulted her, threatened to kill her parents if she disclosed the incident, and intimidated her into silence.
Asaram had challenged the 2018 trial court judgment on grounds including alleged inconsistencies in the prosecution case, challenge to the victim’s age, and claims of false implication as part of an extortion conspiracy.
Rejecting these arguments, the High Court found the prosecutrix’s testimony credible and sufficient to sustain conviction. It accepted documentary evidence establishing that the victim was a minor at the time of the offence and found no merit in the defence theory of conspiracy.
However, the Court held that the prosecution failed to establish the charges against the co-accused beyond reasonable doubt, leading to their acquittal.
Appearances:
For Appellant (Asaram): Senior Advocate Devadatt Kamat, assisted by Rajesh Inamdar, Nishant Bora, Yashpal Rajpurohit, Shivangi Pathak, Bharat Sain, Rewant Solanki, Arpit Linda, J.R. Lohia and Shashwat Anand.
For Shilpi: Senior Advocate Vineet Jain, assisted by Praveen Vyas, appeared for Sharad Chandra; Devadatt Kamat with Deepak Menaria and Yashpal Rajpurohit appeared for Shilpi.
For State: AAG Deepak Choudhary assisted by K.S. Kumpawat.
For Complainant: The complainant was represented by P.C. Solanki with Muskan Moondra, Shubham Dave, Vipul Soni, Lavisha Soni and Kautubh.