77-yar-old self-styled godman Asaram Bapu convicted of raping minor girl

Agencies
April 25, 2018

Jaipur, Apr 25: A trial court in Jodhpur on Wednesday held self-styled godman Asaram Bapu guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in August 2013.

The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Madhusudhan Sharma in a makeshift court at the Jodhpur Central Jail as per the orders of the Rajasthan High Court.

Asaram was charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso), Juvenile Justice Act, Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Two of the four other accused, Prakash and Shiva alias Sava Ram, have been acquitted, while Sanchita alias Shilpi and Sharad Chandra alias Sharat Chandra have been convicted. However, the court is yet to set a date for deciding on the quantum of sentence for Asaram.

The "godman" can face a minimum sentence of 10 years in jail and a maximum of life imprisonment under the stringent sections of Pocso. Asaram has been found guilty of sexual assault, criminal conspiracy, criminal intimidation and illegal confinement of a minor

Section 144 has been imposed in Jodhpur till April 30, preventing assembly of more than four people at a time. Security has been heightened across the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana where Asaram has a huge following.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the three states to deploy additional forces in sensitive areas and ensure law and order is maintained following the verdict.

Following the verdict, the victim's father told the media, "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice".

Asaram, 77,  was accused of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur. The girl is from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and was a student living in the ashram close to Jodhpur. Asaram was arrested on August 31, 2013, and since then he has been housed in Jodhpur Central Jail.

According to the charge sheet, the cook and warden of the ashram in Chhindwara, where the girl was studying, claimed she was possessed by evil spirits and had to be exorcised.

The girl's parents, who were long-time devotees of Asaram, took their daughter to the Jodhpur ashram, where Asaram sexually assaulted her.

Nine witnesses have been attacked over the last five years since the trial began against Asaram.

But there is more trouble in the offing for Asaram as two girls have lodged a complaint against him and his son Narayan Sai in Surat, accusing them of rape and illegal confinement.

Comments

Well Wisher
 - 
Wednesday, 25 Apr 2018

Worship the creator, not his creation.

Bloody shame. Hang him publicly

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News Network
April 3,2020

New Delhi, Apr 3: Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind leader Mahmood Madani on Thursday said that misbehaviour with doctors cannot be tolerated as they are working to protect everyone.

"We can only spread awareness about coronavirus that its only cure is by taking precautions. The government shared the precautions that people should not take part in any gathering, be clean and maintain social distance. After the reports, it will clear that how it is spread in the country," Madani told news agency.

"People who are objecting to testing in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital are very wrong and they should follow the instructions.

Hospital authorities and administration should talk to them. Today doctors are our soldiers who protect us and wrong behaviour with doctors cannot be tolerated," he added.

He further said that Jamiat wrote to the PM Narendra Modi that they will provide a place for 10,000 people in different states. Our workers also distributed food to one lakh people, he added.

People who attended a religious prayer meeting from March 13-15 at Markaz in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi were sent to Lok Nayak Hospital for coronavirus test on March 30.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday said that there are 2,069 coronavirus positive cases in India, including 1,860 active cases, 156 cured/discharged/migrated people and 53 deaths.

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News Network
February 14,2020

London, Feb 14: Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya once again asked the Indian banks to take back 100 per cent of the principal amount owed to them at the end of his three-day British High Court appeal on Thursday against an extradition order to India.

The 64-year-old former Kingfisher Airlines boss, wanted in India on charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to an alleged Rs 9,000 crores in unpaid bank loans, said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are fighting over the same assets and not treating him reasonably in the process.

“I request the banks with folded hands, take 100 per cent of your principal back, immediately,” he said outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

“The Enforcement Directorate attached the assets on the complaint by the banks that I was not paying them. I have not committed any offenses under the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) that the Enforcement Directorate should suo moto attach my assets," he said.

"I am saying, please banks take your money. The ED is saying no, we have a claim over these assets. So, the ED on the one side and the banks on the other are fighting over the same assets,” he added.

Asked about heading back to India, he noted: “I should be where my family is, where my interests are.

"If the CBI and the ED are going to be reasonable, it’s a different story. What all they are doing to me for the last four years is totally unreasonable.”

Lord Justice Stephen Irwin and Justice Elisabeth Laing, the two-member bench presiding over the appeal, concluded hearing the arguments in the case and said they will be handing down their verdict at a later date after considering the oral as well as written submissions in the “very dense” case over the next few weeks.

On a day of heated arguments between Mallya’s barrister, Clare Montgomery, and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) counsel Mark Summers, arguing on behalf of the Indian government, both sides clashed over the prima facie case of fraud and deception against Mallya.

“We submit that he lied to get the loans, then did something with the money he wasn’t supposed to and then refused to give back the money. All this could be perceived by a jury as patently dishonest conduct,” said Summers.

“What they [Kingfisher Airlines] were saying [to the banks] about profitability going forward was knowingly wrong,” he said, as he took the High Court through evidence to counter Mallya’s lawyers’ claims that Westminster Magistrates Court Judge Emma Arbuthnot had fallen into error when she found a case to answer in the Indian courts against Mallya.

Mallya, who remains on bail on an extradition warrant, is not required to attend the hearings but has been in court to observe the proceedings since the three-day appeal opened on Tuesday. A key defence to disprove a prima facie case of fraud and misrepresentation on his part has revolved around the fact that Kingfisher Airlines was the victim of economic misfortune alongside other Indian airlines.

However, the CPS has argued that “there is enough in the 32,000 pages of overall evidence to fulfil the [extradition] treaty obligations that there is a case to answer”. “There is not just a prima facie case but overwhelming evidence of dishonesty… and given the volume and depth of evidence the District Judge [Arbuthnot] had before her, the judgment is comprehensive and detailed with the odd error but nothing that impacts the prima facie case,” said Summers.

At the start of the appeal, Mallya’s counsel claimed Arbuthnot did not look at all of the evidence because if she had, she would not have fallen into the multiple errors that permeate her judgment. The High Court must establish if the magistrates’ court had in fact fallen short on a point of law in its verdict in favour of extradition.

Representatives from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), as well as the Indian High Commission in London, have been present in court to take notes during the course of the appeal hearing.

Mallya had received permission to appeal against his extradition order signed off by former UK home secretary Sajid Javid last February only on one ground, which challenges the Indian government's prima facie case against him of fraudulent intentions in acquiring bank loans.

At the end of a year-long extradition trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London in December 2018, Judge Arbuthnot had found “clear evidence of dispersal and misapplication of the loan funds” and accepted a prima facie case of fraud and a conspiracy to launder money against Mallya, as presented by the CPS on behalf of the Indian government.

Mallya remains on bail since his arrest on an extradition warrant in April 2017 involving a bond worth 650,000 pounds and other restrictions on his travel while he contests that ruling.

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News Network
May 12,2020

New Delhi, May 12: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was admitted to the AIIMS here after suffering reaction to a new medication, was discharged on Tuesday.

The 87-year-old Congress leader was discharged around 12:30 pm, hospital sources said.

Manmohan Singh was shifted to a private ward in the Cardio-Neuro tower on Monday night. He was also tested for Covid-19 and his results had come out negative, the sources said. The Congress leader was admitted to the hospital on Sunday evening after he complained of uneasiness.

The sources said that Singh had developed a reaction to a new medication and was admitted to AIIMS for observation and investigation.

Manmohan Singh is currently a Member of Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. He was the prime minister between 2004 and 2014.

In 2009, Singh underwent a successful coronary bypass surgery at the AIIMS.

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