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TalkPoint: Does Asaram’s conviction show that ‘godmen’ cannot be above the law?

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Five years after he was charged, Asaram has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Jodhpur Court for raping a minor. The self-proclaimed ‘godman’ and his followers have asserted his innocence repeatedly.

Last year, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was also found guilty of rape.

ThePrint asks: Does Asaram’s conviction show that ‘godmen’ cannot be above the law?


The attitude to rape will change when people see there is a guarantee of prosecution and rightful conviction

Enakshi Ganguly
Co-Director, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights

It is indeed heartening to see that the children and their families who had had the courage to disclose abuse by this powerful self-styled guru and ‘godman’ Asaram Bapu, have finally got justice. The entire judicial system that refused him bail 12 times and the judge who gave this order despite all the pressure must be commended for not giving in.

Indeed that is the only way there can be any change in the attitude to rape and sexual abuse- when people see that there is a guarantee of prosecution and rightful conviction. That is what restores faith in the justice system and also acts as a deterrent for others.

This is particularly relevant in the context of the current ordinance on rape that brings in death penalty which will actually reduce disclosures and increase the risk for children who report.

Watching the reaction of the followers of self-styled ‘godman’ Asaram takes us back to the reactions we saw in the Ram Rahim case. Asaram symbolises religious power that ‘godmen’ from all religions hold over people. These people are often extremely vulnerable because of the challenges they face in their everyday life and these ‘godmen’ seem to offer them ‘solutions’.

So blinded are they by their faith and loyalty that they are unwilling to see the truth. If there were adequate support systems for people to deal with their angst, they would not be rushing to these men. Only when more evidence of their malafide intentions are given to the followers and such abusers are brought to book will things change.


The political impunity offered to men in saffron robes like Asaram must be legally challenged

Pratiksha Baxi
Associate professor, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Asumal Sirumalani, popularly known as Asaram, has been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy, trafficking, criminal intimidation and rape under the IPC and the POCSO Act by a PoA special court.

The case of Asumal Sirumalani raises three questions.

First, the social impunity proffered to men who call themselves ‘Bapus’ (literally, father) by claiming god-like divine powers. There is enough empirical evidence that mass veneration of such men puts children at risk of terrible violence. Is it not the social and spiritual responsibility of devotees to ensure that there is no toleration for sexual violence in their ashrams? Surely ‘divine justice’ must be gender just?

Second, political impunity offered to such ‘godmen’ in geru (orange robes) who command vast power, even to the extent of getting witnesses killed, as is alleged in this case, must be legally challenged. The political patronage to ashrams without any accountability creates zones of sexual exceptionalism.

Third, the power of these ‘godmen’ who abuse the trust reposed in them must be seen as custodial violence and as an atrocity when the victim is Dalit or adivasi.

The 2018 ordinance on rape did not address rape as an atrocity. And the Supreme Court by mandating prior sanction, most unfortunately, put raped Dalit women and children at greater risk. And courts routinely do not name rape as an atrocity. When will we ask, why?

Nor did the ordinance introduce measures for witness protection. Who is responsible when victims or witnesses are killed? Won’t more victims and witnesses be killed when death penalty is prescribed without ensuring safe conditions of testimony?

Why must the burden of extraordinary courage be placed on children?


Not against Hindu ‘godmen’ being convicted, but the same approach should be extended to other religions

Jitender Khurana
President, Hindu Jagran Abhiyan

I personally believe that the judiciary declares its verdict after much consideration and therefore, it must be absolutely correct.

However, there were five accused in this case. Why have only three been convicted? If the other two were named by the victim why haven’t they been charged as well? I am waiting for the final sentence for more clarity.

What I am haunted by is a question for the lawmakers of our country – how can one prove their innocence under an act like POCSO? It seems virtually impossible. I even spoke to some advocates about it.

I firmly believe every rapist should be punished but is every man who has been accused of rape always a rapist? What if the charges are fake? We know that false rape complaints are on the rise. Is there a provision at all to prove one’s innocence then? The solution seems to be that there should be cameras everywhere, which is ridiculous.

At this rate, no man in the country will ever be able to interact with a minor girl. If god himself was accused under the POCSO Act, he too wouldn’t be able to escape punishment from man-made laws.

Moreover, there is a definite bias in the media. Comparatively, more cases of Hindu swamis or gurus come to light than others. I know that there are numerous of cases Maulvis and Christian priests who have been accused of the same. Why do we not see them get highlighted by the media?

I’m not against Hindu ‘godmen’ being convicted, but then the same approach should be extended to other religions as well.


After the Asaram conviction, those who were suggesting death penalty for child rapists are revisiting their stance

Saumya Saxena 
Team of advisers, Justice Verma committee

After the Asaram conviction, many of the shrill voices in the establishment who were suggesting death penalty as a panacea for preventing the rape of children, are now revising their stance on the matter. While there were compelling arguments that suggested death penalty would put victims of these heinous crimes in way of further harm like murder and also affect reporting of crimes that occur within families, the calls for a reasoned debate on the subject was rejected hastily in favour of the populist demand for death penalty.

In Asaram’s case, the populist demand may well be to free the man. This is why it’s important that legislation should not be driven by electoral considerations or on an individual case basis. Asaram’s conviction gives us hope that religion– any religion– isn’t a bulletproof cloak that one can wrap around themselves to escape the law. It is unfortunate that we have four states in India on high alert because people refused to accept that their ‘godman’ can do any wrong. This where we sow the seeds of victim-blaming and whataboutery. This is where the hideous conspiracy theories are brewed in order to rationalise people’s belief in the innocence of their saint.

It is not the public alone who is misled. Politicians prostrating before such men add to the myth of miracles propagated by such cults. This also calls for the media to act responsibly and not contribute to this circus by providing a platform to defenders of such crimes in high pitched primetime debates.


People of this country are hoping that justice will prevail and Asaram Bapu will be absolved

Komal Malhotra
Follower, Asaram Bapu

There has been no official statement from either the defence counsel or the prosecution yet regarding the Asaram conviction. Till an official statement is made, all of this is mere speculation. As of now, Asaram Bapu’s conviction is a case of fake news.

Earlier, news filtered in that all the five accused had been convicted. Now we are learning that only three people have been charged. What sections have they been charged under? Did the five years that Asaram Bapu already serve make a difference? We don’t know any of the details yet.

Moreover, there are discrepancies in the case itself that we are investigating. The date of birth on the birth certificate and the school certificate of the victim are different. Was that taken into account?

The entire case is happening behind closed doors in presence of only 18 people, inside a jail. None of them have their mobile phones due to security reasons. What are we basing this news on then? What is its validity?

We are in touch with Asaram Bapu’s legal counsel and are hoping for the best. Until we hear from them, we can make no constructive statement about what is happening. The people of this country are hoping that justice will prevail and Asaram Bapu will be absolved since he has said that all these charges against him are unfounded.


The political patronage and social sanction that self-styled ‘godmen’, like Asaram, enjoy needs to end

Deeksha Bhardwaj
Journalist, ThePrint 

Asumal Sirumalani, better known as Asaram, has been sentenced to life imprisonment five years after he was charged with raping a minor. Why did it take so long? Simple, three of the nine witnesses, including the whistle-blower and ayurvedic physician Amrut Prajapati, were shot dead.

His legal crusaders included Salman Khurshid, Ram Jethmalani, and Subramaniam Swamy. Luckily, all failed in their attempts to get him bail since he was charged under the POCSO Act.

I won’t even venture into his list of political defenders. Or the fact that a riot action force was deployed when the verdict was being delivered. Or that the court had to move inside the jail to avoid violence.

In a similar case, it took 15 years to convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief – Ram Rahim. Another Asharam in Delhi is suspected of a trafficking racket, a CBI investigation is underway against its founder Virender Dev Dikshit.

Asaram’s story is that of a man who pedestaled himself over people who felt disenfranchised. The psychology behind these self-proclaimed ‘godmen’ rests on the blind faith of their followers who believe they have found shelter away from a society that discriminates against them.

In a highly world polarised world, ‘godmen’ become all the more important. Their followers exist in a state of trance where reality, law and society, all become secondary to their messiah, their saviour.

It is also this very blind faith that makes women, and especially impressionable children, vulnerable to exploitation at their hands. Unless we hold men who wield influence and power equivalent to ‘gods’ accountable to laws the situation is not likely to change.

Accountable doesn’t just mean a conviction. It means a long rigorous sentence and an overhauling of the exploitative societies they run, often under political patronage. It also means divesting them of the social sanction that their numerous fanatic followers endow them with. They must face the consequences of their actions.


Compiled by Deeksha Bhardwaj, journalist at ThePrint.

Illustration by Siddhant Gupta.

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