The special court, which awarded stringent punishment to Asaram Bapu here on Wednesday, relied on the rape victim’s statements, circumstantial evidence and the testimony of witnesses to conclude that the self-styled godman had sexually assaulted the teenage girl.
In his 453-page judgment, special judge Madhusudan Sharma dealt with the evidence placed before him and discussed in detail the judicial precedents relating to inconsistencies in statements, weightage given to the prosecution and defence witnesses, the quality of the investigation and criminal conspiracy involving the co-accused.
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Firm in her statements
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Mr. Sharma, posted as the Special Judge (SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Cases) here, is also authorised to try cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. The matter came up before him in his capacity as the presiding officer of the court for children’s cases.
The 16-year-old girl who lodged the complaint against Asaram in Delhi appeared in the court and was cross-examined. The questions and answers run into 81 pages. The court observed that she had satisfactorily explained the circumstances on the night of August 15, 2013, when she was raped by the convict in his ashram at Manai village near here.
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“The victim has been firm in her statements, which were recorded in the FIR and were later made before the Magistrate under Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code,” said the court.
There was no reason to disbelieve her narrative. Her sole testimony was sufficient to establish the commission of rape even in the absence of corroborative evidence, the court said.
Conspiracy theory
The judge rejected the theory of conspiracy proffered by the 77-year-old Asaram’s counsel, who claimed that the girl’s father, who was once a disciple of the godman, had demanded ₹50 crore from him. The court also disagreed with the defence counsel’s contention that the prosecution’s witnesses had been given a greater weightage in the case. All witnesses deserved equal treatment, provided their evidence was not tainted, it said.
Abetted him
The court held that the prosecution had successfully proved that the victim had gone into Asaram’s room in the ashram and was sexually assaulted.
“A person may make a false statement, but the circumstances never lie,” it said. Even if it was assumed that the police investigation was faulty, the perpetrator of such a ghastly crime could not be allowed to go scot-free.
While convicting two of the co-accused, Sharatchandra and Shilpi, of criminal conspiracy, the court said they had sent the girl to Asaram from Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, where she was staying for her studies, and ensured that she was alone with him for some time. They had asked her parents to take her to Asaram in Manai to drive away the “evil spirits that had possessed her.”
Betrayal of trust
As for Asaram’s status as a spiritual guru, the court said the evidence on record had proved that he had lakhs of disciples and followers in India and abroad and over 400 ashrams running in his name. Such was the faith of the victim’s father in Asaram that he had sent his daughter to study in his residential school in Chhindwara, far away from his native place Shahjahanpur.
“The convict has not only broken the girl’s trust, but also tarnished the image of saints in the society. The court will be failing in its duty if it does not award a stringent punishment to him,” said the Judge.
The court rejected the defence plea for leniency in sentence in view of his old age and the “social service” he had rendered.