Self-styled godman Asaram sentenced to life by Gujarati court in 2013 rape case
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Ahmedabad: In a 2013 rape case brought by a former female disciple, self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was found guilty and given a life sentence by a Gandhinagar court on Tuesday.
The 81-year-old is currently incarcerated in a Jodhpur jail, where he is completing a life term for raping a young girl in 2013 at his ashram in Rajasthan.
Sessions court judge D K Soni pronounced the ruling after hearing the arguments on the quantum of the sentence.
The court on Monday 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.
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.
With PTI inputs