Rajasthan High Court Upholds Life Sentence for Self-Styled Godman Asaram Bapu
The Rajasthan High Court finally sided with the self-styled godman, Asaram Bapu. They upheld his life sentence stemming from the rape of a minor. The court basically said that you can’t just ignore the victim’s voice, especially when you look at the convict’s frailty.
A bench of Yogendra Kumar Purohit and Arun Monga directed Asaram to surrender at the Jodhpur Central Jail. Bail was cancelled. Bail bonds were forfeited. That’s what the Indian Express reported.
This whole thing happened while the court was looking at criminal appeals. Appeals challenging the 2018 conviction handed down by the Special POCSO Court in Jodhpur. Back then, Asaram, the self-styled godman, had been convicted for raping a young girl and got life imprisonment.
The case had already drawn a lot of attention. People were talking about the accused, and the sheer seriousness of what the victim had alleged.
The High Court did pull some threads. It set aside his conviction for gangrape, for aggravated penetrative sexual assault, and for criminal conspiracy. But they kept the conviction under the IPC. That’s the stuff about trafficking a minor, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, sexual harassment, and the act of committing rape by someone in a position of trust.
And they also kept the convictions under the Juvenile Justice Act and the POSCO Act. That was based on the trial court’s decision not to grant leniency to the appellant.
The court’s remark really hit hard. It said the appellant was 73 when the crime happened. Now he’s 86. He was begging for a second chance, but the court just couldn't justify ignoring what the victim said because of his age and illness.
“Quiet. Devastating. Irrefutable,” the High Court stated. “To ignore it would shake society’s faith in the criminal justice system. No court should ever send that message, especially when the perpetrator hides behind the cloak of a self-styled godman.” That’s what the Indian Express quoted.
Upholding the conviction, the High Court went further. They stressed that the sentence served on the victim’s soul is lifelong. It’s not just ink on paper. It’s written in indelible anguish.
The court elaborated on the damage. It said a rape victim doesn't just carry a wound. She carries an erasure. An erasure of her dignity, of her identity, of who she was before that moment shattered her life into before and after. The violation doesn't stop when the act stops. It just keeps ringing through every silence, every crowded room, every normal day made unbearable by the memory.
Asaram had tried to fight the 2018 conviction on several fronts. He claimed the judge failed to handle the media pressure against him. He argued the investigating agency and the prosecution deliberately messed things up so they couldn't investigate anything dispassionately.
He pointed out the e-FIR was registered way too late. And it happened in Delhi, not the actual police station. He called it a planned conspiracy.
Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board
Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.
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