DNA Edit: Asaram’s fall

The law is, perhaps, the greatest leveller when it comes to wiping out the distinctions between the poor and the powerful. Godman Asaram Bapu’s conviction under section 376 and the POCSO Act should work as a deterrent for fake ascetics and crooked-as-a-barrel-of-fish-hooks spiritual gurus who consider themselves above the law. The Jodhpur SC/ST Court’s verdict, sentencing him to life, was a well-earned victory for the ashramite girl who braved death threats to reveal the true face of Asaram. The charges levelled against him were of utmost serious nature: raping a minor, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and sexual harassment.

What was noteworthy was the Rajasthan government’s strict monitoring of law and order to pre-empt his followers from wreaking havoc. Recall that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s disciples – read goons – had run amok in Punjab and Haryana in August last year when the CBI court found him guilty of the rape and sexual exploitation of two female disciples. The so-called Bapu will always have legal recourse to appeal to higher courts, but till he is given a clean chit, he should be treated like a criminal in prison, deserving of no quarter of privileged treatment.

Objectively looking, criminals like Asaram are one of the biggest impediments to inculcating scientific temper among Indians who still believe mumbo-jumbo as supernatural powers. His ‘empire’ runs into thousands of crores; his powers flowed from the blind devotion of his gullible admirers. In his heyday, he hobnobbed with the rich and the mighty who, too, were taken in by his ‘spiritual’ charm. And, above all, he employed threats and intimidation to silence his critics. Sadly, the fall of Asaram and several others before him, has done little to keep the masses away from the web of deceit and duplicity.