New Delhi: The Rajasthan High Court has upheld the conviction and life sentence given to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu for raping a minor girl in 2013, but acquitted the 86-year-old of charges of gangrape related to the case.
Asaram, who has been out on bail since October on health grounds, has been ordered to surrender immediately. Two co-accused, who were staff at his Jodhpur ashram, have been acquitted of the charges of conspiracy.
In an order delivered on Wednesday, a bench of justices Arun Monga and Yogendra Kumar Purohit rejected a series of arguments put up by the defence, including their claim that the “trial was vitiated by the adverse media propaganda against” him.
In 2018, the trial court had convicted Asaram of sexually assaulting the minor girl at his Ashram near Jodhpur when she had come to him in 2013 for faith healing after her parents feared she suffered a spiritual ailment.
Asaram moved the high court the same year against the trial court order, where his defence relied on a wide range of arguments to challenge the conviction and sentencing.
His legal team first attempted to cast doubt on the applicability of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the case, claiming that the victim had attained majority at the time of the offence as alleged.
The defence produced its own set of records, claiming that the prosecution’s evidence had been fabricated. They cited witnesses who cast doubt on the timeline. One defence witness claimed to remember the victim’s “18th birthday” being celebrated before the alleged offence.
The prosecution, however, produced extensive documentary evidence, including school records and official identification documents, to claim that she was 16 at the time of the alleged incident.
The trial court had relied on these to demonstrate that the victim was truly a minor, and the High Court agreed, concluding that “at the time of commission of the offence on 15.08.2013… she was less than 18 years of age”.
The court, therefore, determined that, since the victim was a minor, the POCSO Act was entirely applicable.
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‘Adverse’ media report
The defence also argued that the trial court had been improperly influenced by the immense publicity the case generated, which “poisoned” attitudes towards Asaram. “The trial was vitiated by the adverse media propaganda against the appellant,” the defence argued.
The High Court, however, rejected this argument outright, finding no basis to conclude that media coverage had compromised the fairness of the proceedings.
The defence counsel also highlighted what they called “discrepancies” in the statements of the victim and her family across different stages of the investigation and trial, arguing that these showed the case had been fabricated.
The defence also advanced the theory of an extortion conspiracy targeted at Asaram.
The court, however, found the victim’s testimony both reliable and persuasive. It described her account as “quiet. Devastating. irrefutable”, with the bench observing that “to ignore it would be to shake society’s faith in the criminal justice system”.
It was this testimony that the court relied upon in rejecting the defence contention that the medical evidence showed no signs of assault. The bench noted that the victim’s account did not necessarily imply visible external injuries, and held that the absence of a conclusive medical finding did not outweigh otherwise credible testimony.
“The aforesaid remaining discrepancies pointed out by the learned defence counsel are on minute peripheral details and do not erode or destroy the substratum of the case,” the HC observed.
Therefore, there was no reason to believe the incident had been fabricated, said the court.
Where HC agreed with defence
On some points, however, the court agreed with the defence. In light of the absence of evidence suggesting the participation of any other person in the assault, it acquitted Asaram of the charge of gang rape under Section 376D of IPC and the corresponding aggravated penetrative sexual assault charge under Section 5(g)/6 of POCSO Act.
Both these provisions require proof that others participated.
On the main charge of rape and assault of the minor, however, the court found no reason to overturn the trial court’s decision. These charges under Section 376(1) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 5/6 of POCSO Act were upheld, and with them Asaram’s life sentence.
As a final attempt, the defence sought leniency in light of Asaram’s advanced age and deteriorating health. He has been on medical bail for several months.
The court acknowledged that “he is now 86” but concluded that the gravity of the offence left no room for leniency. “We are unable to grant any indulgence,” the bench stated.
Co-accused acquitted
According to the court, the conspiracy case against two co-accused, staff members at the ashram near Jodhpur, was considerably weaker.
It was not disputed that the two co-accused had encouraged the victim’s parents to bring her to Asaram for “ghost healing”, but the court found no evidence that either had participated in the assault itself.
A criminal conspiracy, said the bench, requires a “meeting of minds” and implies the existence of a specific criminal intention.
But the prosecution had failed to show that the two co-accused knew what Asaram intended to do when they sent the girl to him, or that he had informed them of any such intention, according to the bench.
“The prosecution had not proved on record the requisite meeting of minds,” the court ruled. Without such proof, “the appellants cannot be held vicariously liable” for Asaram’s actions.
The judgment distinguished between personal guilt and collective criminal liability.
The high court found the evidence against Asaram himself strong enough to sustain convictions for rape and sexual assault under POCSO, while concluding that the prosecution had failed to prove the existence of a wider conspiracy involving his associates.
In doing so, the court narrowed the scope of the original conviction without disturbing its core finding: that a minor girl, brought to the ashram by a family that trusted him as a spiritual authority, had been sexually assaulted by him.
That finding, the bench held, remained strong enough to justify life imprisonment “for the remainder of his natural life.”
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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victim had attained majority at the time of the offence as alleged.
What is meant by above sentence?