In August 2013, a 16-year-old girl accused Asharam of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur on the pretext of exorcising her from evil spirits.
Verdict in Asaram case will now be pronounced in Jodhpur jail premises on April 25 and presiding officer, Madhusudan Sharma, will do so. The Rajasthan High Court has decided this following a petition filed by the police.
While presenting a petition on behalf of the Police Commissionerate Jodhpur on Friday, Additional Solicitor General Shivkumar Vyas requested the court to pronounce the verdict in the jail. Senior advocate Mahesh Boda and Sajjanraj Surana, who have been advocating Asaram's case sought time from the High Court Justice Gopalakrishna Vyas's Bench to give reply to the petition.
In response to the petition filed by the police on Tuesday, Asaram's advocates placed their arguments. On which the bench reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments from both sides but in the afternoon, the Bench of Justice Vyas considered the police fear of deteriorating law and order due to Asaram supporters and ordered that hearing on April 25 will be in jail and the verdict will be pronounced in jail.
THE CASE
In August 2013, a 16-year-old girl accused Asharam of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur on the pretext of exorcising her from evil spirits. The girl's parents, who were disciples of Asaram, filed a complaint with the police in Delhi, and a case was registered after the medical examination of the girl confirmed sexual assault.
When Asharam did not appear for interrogation by 31 August, Delhi police booked him under multiple non-bailable sections of IPC. Asharam remained inside one of his ashram(s) in Indore and avoided arrest while clashes broke out between his disciples and the journalists and policemen. Eventually, the Jodhpur police arrested him on 1 September 2013 from his ashram.
FORTRESS LIKE...
The police suspects that a large number of Asaram supporters are likely to gatecrash in Jodhpur during the verdict on April 25. Keeping this in mind, they appealed to the High Court to pronounce the verdict within the jail premises. In August last year, the Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted by Chandigarh court in a rape case. After the sentence, the Dera supporters ran amok. Around 20 people were killed in police firing and there was a major loss of public property.
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