Asaram rape case: Victim's father hails verdict, hopes for strict punishment

NEW DELHI: Shortly after Asaram was convicted of raping a teenage girl at his ashram in 2013, the survivor's father reacted to the development and said they have got justice. Thanking everyone who had supported them, he expressed hope of the self-styled godman getting strict punishment.

The rape survivor's father also urged for the justice of the witnesses who were murdered or abducted.

"Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice," said the victim's father.

The verdict was announced by the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court on Wednesday inside the Jodhpur Central Jail premises where Asaram has been lodged for the past over four years.

Along with Asaram, four others were also charged in the case. Among the other four,  Sharad and Shilpi have been held guilty while Shiva and Prakash have been acquired by the court.

Asaram's involvement was probed in two separate cases - one from Rajasthan and the other from Gujarat.

In the case registered in Rajasthan, a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013, while in Gujarat, two Surat-based sisters lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape.

Asaram was arrested in Indore and was brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. Since then he has been lodged inside the prison. Several courts had repeatedly denied his bail requests.

The Surat-based girl filed a case against him, alleging sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006 when she was living in his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city. The girl belonging to Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh was a student at the ashram.