Asaram bapu lawyer

The Gujarat government will move the high court to challenge the acquittal of self-styled godman Asaram's wife, their daughter and his four disciples in a 2013 rape case in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, an official said on Thursday. A court in Gandhinagar on January 31 sentenced Asaram to life imprisonment in the rape case filed by his former woman disciple in 2013. Asaram's wife Laxmiben, their daughter Bharati, and his four disciples, who were accused by the prosecution of aiding and abetting the crime, were acquitted by the court for want of evidence. The prosecution has also sought the government's consent to challenge the Gandhinagar court's January 31 order, in which it suggested that life sentences for Asaram in Jodhpur and Ahmedabad cases should run concurrently. The government's consent for the same is awaited, Kodekar said. The octogenarian godman is currently serving a life term in a Jodhpur jail in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013. The Gandhinagar court sentenced Asaram in the case for raping a woman disciple, who hailed from Surat, on several occasions from 2001 to 2007 at his ashram at Motera near Ahmedabad before her escape. In its order, the court said that Asaram sexually abused a victim of a younger age than his daughter and committed a crime that cannot be taken lightly. It said the accused committed "a very serious crime against the society and such a heinous crime cannot have any place of sympathy an...

A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and M R Shah was informed by senior advocate Manish Singhvi, appearing for Rajasthan, that Asaram's plea for transferring him to an ayurvedic centre near Haridwar in Uttarakhand has become infructuous as now he cannot be shifted due to his hospitalisation. Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for Asaram, said his client has been admitted to the hospital and the court should call for the medical records. "We don't know what his ailments are. This court should order for the calling of his medical records from the state as the hospital authorities will not give the details to them," Luthra said. The bench said however that it was adjourning the matter till reopening of the court after the summer vacation. On June 8, the state government had told the top court that Asaram is fit and stable but trying to change the venue of his custody on the pretext of medical treatment. The state government had made this submission to the apex court in its reply to Asaram's fresh plea, seeking suspension of his sentence and interim bail to undergo treatment for various ailments at an ayurvedic centre near Haridwar in Uttarakhand. Asaram is serving varying jail terms including life sentences in two sexual assault cases. "The accused/petitioner with ulterior motives has been attempting to change the venue of his custody, under the guise of medical treatment. Such change, with due respect, is an abuse of the process of law," the state government had sai...

Note: This article was originally published on August 2, 2015. Asaram Bapu has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons for years now, both before and after his arrest in September 2013. The latest amongst these incidents connected to the godman is the death of a third witness in criminal cases against him – Kripal Singh, who was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Puwayan in the Shajahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Even by the murky standards of India’s self-styled spiritual gurus, the allegations whirling around the 74-year-old Asaram are exceptional: suspected black magic and human sacrifice; the deaths of four young male students of the residential schools in his ashrams, of which the bodies of two were found severely burned and mutilated, their limbs and internal organs missing; sexual assault of a minor girl under the pretext of ‘exorcism’; allegations of repeated rape and illegal confinement of two sisters, supposedly with the complicity of the godman’s son, the latter also having been accused of raping the victims; attacks in four states against nine witnesses in criminal cases against the godman, leading to the death of three, of which one was a former personal aide of the guru and another his former cook; threats and intimidation of complainants, witnesses and their families, apart from judges and investigating officers in multiple states. These do not include other alleged crimes that seem to be associated with Asaram – the suspicious deaths of at le...