Team News Riveting
Gandhinagar, January 30
A court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar on Monday convicted self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in a rape case and reserved its order on the quantum of sentence for Tuesday.
The self-styled godman was charged of raping a woman disciple. The offence was registered against him in 2013.
According to the first information report (FIR) lodged at Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad, Asaram Bapu allegedly raped the woman on several occasions from 2001 to 2006. She was living at his ashram located on the outskirts of the city.
“The court has accepted the prosecution case and convicted Asaram under sections 376 2(C) (rape), 377 (unnatural offences) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code for illegal detention, among others,” special public prosecutor R C Kodekar said on Monday. Sessions court judge D K Soni reserved its order on the quantum of sentence for Tuesday (January 31).
The court had acquitted six other accused, including Asaram’s wife, due to the lack of evidence.
Asaram Bapu is currently lodged in jail in Jodhpur in another rape case. A Surat-based woman had filed a case of rape and illegal confinement against Asaram Bapu and seven others, one of whom died during the pendency of the trial, in October 2013.
