Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu jailed for life in second rape case
The court had acquitted six other accused, including Asaram's wife Laxmiben, their daughter, and four disciples who were accused of aiding and abetting the crime, for want of evidence, the prosecution said.
FollowA Gujarat court on Tuesday (January 31) sentenced self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who was convicted in a rape case filed by a former woman disciple in 2013, to life imprisonment.
Asaram Bapu, (81) is currently lodged in a Jodhpur jail, where he is serving life sentence in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
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Sessions court judge DK Soni pronounced the ruling after hearing the arguments on the quantum of sentence. On Monday, the court convicted Asaram in a case registered in 2013 for raping a woman disciple, who hailed from Surat, on several occasions from 2001 to 2006 when she was living at his ashram at Motera near Ahmedabad.
The court convicted Asaram under Indian Penal Code Sections 376 2 (C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences), 342 (wrongful detention), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 357 (assault) and 506 (criminal intimidation), in the case lodged by his former woman disciple in 2013.
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The court had acquitted six other accused, including Asaram's wife Laxmiben, their daughter, and four disciples who were accused of aiding and abetting the crime, for want of evidence, the prosecution said.
At the time, the 77-year-old godman was convicted under Section 376 of the IPC, the Protection of Children under Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act.
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