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
March 31,2020

Hyderabad, Mar 31: Six people from Telangana who attended a religious congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin died due to the novel coronavirus, the state government said on Monday.

"Coronavirus has spread among some of those who attended a religious prayer meeting from March 13 to 15 at Markaz in Nizamuddin area in Delhi," according to an official release. "Among those who attended were some persons from Telangana."

Two of the six died at the Gandhi Hospital, one each in two private hospitals, and one each in Nizamabad and Gadwal towns, the statement said, without mentioning the time of their deaths.

The special teams under the collectors have identified the persons who came in contact with the deceased and they are shifted to the hospitals, it said.

Police and paramilitary personnel cordoned off a major area in Nizamuddin West in south Delhi on Monday and over 200 people have been kept in isolation in hospitals after several people who took part in a religious congregation there showed symptoms of coronavirus.

The Telagana government asked those who participated in the prayers to inform the authorities. It will conduct tests and offer treatment to them free of cost, according to the release.

The government also requested the people to alert if they come to know about those who participated in the prayers.

Earlier a separate government release said a person died of COVID-19 in Telangana, taking the toll to two and the total number touched 77 after six fresh cases were reported on Monday.

As many as 13 patients who underwent treatment for the virus were discharged on Monday, a media bulletin on COVID-19 issued by the state government said.

A techie, the first COVID-19 case in Telangana, has been discharged recently. The state now has 61 active cases, the bulletin said.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had on Sunday said barring a 76-year-old person, who had other ailments, the other patients were doing well.

Rao had said 25,937 people were under surveillance and being watched by 5,746 teams and they would be out of watch after completing their mandated 14-day quarantine period. He had said all those who are under observation would be out of vigil by April 7 if there are no fresh suspected cases.

"From March 30, their time is nearing completion. After that, they do not need to be under any surveillance. By April 7, we will have a situation of zero... We pray God that we should not get new cases,"

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Agencies
May 10,2020

New Delhi, May 10: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ensured audit of donations made to the PM-CARES Fund, and to share the details and the money spent with the people.

"The PM-CARES Fund has received huge contributions from PSUs and major public utilities like the Railways. It's important that the Prime Minister ensure the fund is audited and that the record of money received and spent is available to the public," he tweeted.

The #PmCares fund has received huge contributions from PSUs & major public utilities like the Railways.

It’s important that PM ensures the fund is audited & that the record of money received and spent is available to the public.

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 9, 2020
His remarks came amid reports that the central government is accumulating a huge sum of money in the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund set up as a corpus to fight novel coronavirus and that the amount spent will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The CAG office had clarified that since the fund is based on donations, it has no right to audit a charitable organisation.

On Friday, Rahul Gandhi told the media that the PM-CARES Fund should be audited and people of the country should know about the donors and the donations made.

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Agencies
February 6,2020

Bijnor, Feb 6: Apprehensions over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are now so strong that a team of economic enumerators were allegedly manhandled in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor district and faced stiff resistance from the people.

A team of the economic census enumerators in Bijnor, on Wednesday, sent a letter to the District Magistrate narrating the difficulties they are facing in some parts "due to misinformation".

District magistrate Ramakant Pandey, when contacted, said that he had asked the department concerned to complete the work on time. "If teams are facing any problems, we will sort it out at once. No hurdle in economic census will be tolerated," he said.

According to District Economic and Statistics Officer, Harendra Malik: "Our teams are facing protests in minority-dominated areas as people are linking it to the NRC. Some team members were manhandled.

"We have now asked village heads and municipality chairmen to help our teams in the survey and convince the people. Our teams are trying to convince them that it is a routine work which is being carried out for years. It has nothing to do with the NRC or CAA."

He further said that they plan to hold a series of meetings with people's representatives, including village heads and chairmen, so that they could put an end to this confusion.

The seventh economic census was flagged off in Bijnor by District Magistrate Ramakant Pandey on January 6. There are around 3,000 enumerators and 569 supervisors engaged in the census being carried out under the supervision of economic and statistics department. It is expected to be completed by March 31.

The economic census is aimed at collecting data about the financial status of people engaged in unorganised sector.

Meanwhile, the areas where the enumerators are facing stiff resistance include Kalhari village in Najibabad block, Amipur Narain village in Mohammadpur Devmal block, Anisa Nangli village in Dwarka block and the Mirzapur Bella village in Jalilpur block.

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