Asaram Bapu gets life term in second rape case

Gujarat's Gandhinagar sessions court on Tuesday jailed self-styled godman Asaram Bapu for life in connection with a rape case from 2013. A Surat-based woman had accused Asaram of repeatedly raping her while she was at his ashram in Ahmedabad's Motera around 10 years ago.This is the second sexual assault case in which Asaram Bapu has been convicted and jailed. The self-styled 81- year old godman is already lodged in a Jodhpur prison after a Rajasthan court found him guilty in a separate sexual assault case in 2018. 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 2013, after Asaram Bapu was arrested for raping the girl in Rajasthan, two Surat-based women accused the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai of sexual exploitation.The elder sister accused Asaram of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2006 when she lived at his Ahmedabad ashram. The younger sister accused Narayan Sai of sexual assault when she lived at Asaram's ashram in Jahangirpura area of Surat between 2002 and 2005. Asaram's wife Lakshmi, daughter Bharati, and four female followers -- Dhruvben, Nirmala, Jassi and Meera -- were also accused but were acquitted by the court.