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Verdict in Asaram rape case expected at 10 am, self-styled godman could face minimum…

A Rajasthan court is expected to rule on Wednesday in a rape case against self-styled godman Asaram, who is accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram in 2013.

If convicted, the 77-year-old Asaram will get a minimum of 10 years in jail. The maximum punishment in charges framed against him is life imprisonment.

Asaram Bapu, as he is known to his followers, was charged with raping a 16-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahajahanpur in 2013. He was arrested later that year.

Judge Madhusudan Sharma will reach the special court at 8am, where he will be informed about the high court order allowing delivery of judgment in a special courtroom inside Jodhpur Central Jail.

People aware of the court procedures said the order for moving the court to the jail complex will be processed and then the judge and six staff will shift there. This process is likely to take about an hour.

On Wednesday, stringent security measures were in place Jodhpur and the rest of Rajasthan after a Union home ministry advisory.

The Centre also told Gujarat and Haryana to be on alert to prevent a repeat of the large-scale violence that singed Haryana and Punjab after the conviction of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, in a rape case last August.

Asaram has a large support base in Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat, where he has been booked in a similar case.

Two Surat-based sisters, who stayed at Asaram’s ashram in Gujarat between 1997 and 2006, lodged separate cases against Asaram and his son, Narayan Sai, accusing them of repeated rape and illegal confinement, among other charges.

As the trials in these cases progressed, three key witnesses died and other witnesses and families of victims were attacked or received death threats.

Source: HindustanTimes