France 24<\/p>\n
A judge delivered the guilty verdict at a jail in the city of Jodhpur, in the western Indian <\/a>state of Rajasthan, where Asumal Harpalani, commonly known as Asaram Bapu, has been held since September 2013.<\/p>\n The case highlights the Indian heartland\u2019s fascination with spiritual gurus, who wield immense influence for their ability to mobilise millions of adherents, amass untaxed funds and find favour with politicians.<\/p>\n The 77-year-old Bapu, who has more than 400 ashrams around the world according to his website, had been denied bail a dozen times.<\/p>\n Defence lawyer Sushma Dhara said she would challenge the verdict.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sentencing has come as a big relief,\u201d said Kiran Jha Thakur, the founder of Kalpana, a non-government body that helped the victim\u2019s family pursue the case.<\/p>\n \u201cIt goes on to show that even if you are a \u2018godman\u2019, if you commit a crime, our judiciary\u00a0 will get you,\u201d Thakur said.<\/p>\n India\u2019s Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act permits lifetime jail terms for sexual assault of children, and was recently amended to allow the death penalty for the rape of girls under 12.<\/p>\n Two of the preacher\u2019s aides were also convicted and jailed for 20 years each, while two others were acquitted.<\/p>\n \u201cThis judgment is a lesson to people who think they can get away by committing sexual offences against children,\u201d said Yashwant Jain, a member of National Commission For Protection of Child Rights.<\/p>\n The case dates from August 2013, when the 16-year-old girl accused the preacher of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur, about 335 km from the state capital of Jaipur.<\/p>\n The girl, who reportedly sought to be rid of evil spirits, said in her complaint that she was asked to perform oral sex and was touched inappropriately, media said.<\/p>\n Security forces in four states – Rajasthan and neighbouring western Gujarat, as well as northern Uttar Pradesh and Haryana – went on high alert, for fear of a backlash from supporters.<\/p>\n Last year, followers of another guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, ran amok after he was found guilty of rape, unleashing violence that killed more than 30.<\/p>\n Nationwide outrage after a series of child rapes over the last two weeks spurred Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s cabinet to approve the death penalty for the rape of girls younger than 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" France 24 An Indian court jailed a self-styled religious preacher for life on Wednesday for raping a teenage girl, the latest sexual abuse case against a so-called \u201cgodman\u201d. A judge delivered the guilty verdict at a jail in the city of Jodhpur, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, where Asumal Harpalani, commonly known as Asaram Bapu, has been held… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1708,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707\/revisions\/1708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}