A high-profile spiritual guru in India with a huge following was found guilty of raping a teenage girl in 2013, news reports said.

The judge announced the verdict against Asaram Bapu, 77, inside a jail in the northern state of Rajasthan on Wednesday, as heavy security was deployed in the region to prevent violence by his followers.

The guru was convicted of the rape of the 16-year-old girl at his ashram, Utsav Bains, the victim's lawyer told broadcaster NDTV.

He faces a maximum punishment of life in prison for the crime, Bains said.

Asaram has 400 ashrams that teach meditation and yoga, and he has millions of followers around the world.

The controversial guru is also on trial, along with his son, in another rape case in which two sisters have accused the men of rape. </s> Asaram Bapu, a spiritual guru who claims to have millions of followers, was given a life sentence on Wednesday for the rape of a teenage girl in 2013.

The verdict against the high profile guru was read out inside the prison in Jodhpur where he has been held amid fears that his followers might resort to violence.

The 77 year old has 400 ashrams around the world where he teaches meditation and yoga.

Bapu is also accused of raping another woman between 2002 and 2004. The trial in that case is under way.

Al Jazeera reports Security was tight around the prison complex and in states where the guru has a large following.

The trial was the latest in a series of high-profile rape cases in India that have fuelled public protests and raised questions about how police handle the attacks and treat the victims.

Last August, another popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru, Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of raping two female followers.

Responding to widespread outrage over the recent rape and killings of young girls and other attacks on children, India’s government last week approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under age 12.

Judge Madhusudhan Sharma announced the prison term for Bapu and sentenced two of his associates to 20 years in prison each for helping him in the crime.

The judge convicted Bapu on charges of criminal conspiracy, wrongful confinement and rape.

Bapu has denied the charges, and a spokesman, Neelam Dubey, said he would appeal the verdict in a higher court.

The girl in her complaint to police in 2013 accused Bapu of raping her when she visited his retreat in Jodhpur with her mother. She was 16 at the time. The girl’s family said they had been followers of Bapu for more than a decade.

Bapu has been in prison since his arrest in 2013. He ran more than 230 ashrams with residential schools with millions of followers across India and abroad, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Uganda and Kenya. </s> An Indian guru with millions of followers was found guilty Wednesday of raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, a lawyer for the victim said.

Asaram Bapu, 77, who leads hundreds of ashrams in India and overseas, was convicted at a closed jailhouse court hearing in Jodhpur, in western Rajasthan state where hundreds of police stood guard Wednesday.

The white-bearded guru, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old at an ashram in the city.

He is expected to be sentenced later Wednesday.

"He has been convicted for rape and sections of stringent child protection law and will get a minimum 10 years or life in prison," said Utsav Bains, a lawyer for the family, who was informed of the verdict by colleagues at the closed prison hearing in Jodhpur.

The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security.

Several Indian states were put on high alert and thousands of extra police deployed ahead of Asaram's trial with authorities fearing riots if "Babuji" was found guilty.

Devotees of another self-styled Hindu guru, who was jailed in 2017 for 20 years for rape, went on a rampage that lasted days and left 38 dead.

Asaram still commands a huge following but his star power has faded following the rape charges and other controversies.

He is also accused of raping another devotee and involvement in the killing of two students at another of his Hindu retreats. </s> JODHPUR, India: An Indian guru with millions of followers was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, his lawyer said. Asaram Bapu, one of India’s most charismatic and controversial “godmen”, was given the maximum sentence at a closed jailhouse hearing in Rajasthan state, where hundreds of police were on high alert for any backlash from his disciples. “Asaram has been sentenced for life until death,” Rajendra Singh, a defense lawyer, told AFP outside the court in the western city of Jodhpur.

The white-bearded guru, 77, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old in 2013 during a spiritual retreat at his ashram in Jodhpur. His lawyer said they would appeal the sentence. Asaram is just the latest high-profile guru jailed for sex crimes, and his conviction comes as India reverberates with anger over a series of child rapes in recent weeks. Two of the four other co-accused, including a woman, were also found guilty and sentenced to 20 years. Two others accused in the case were acquitted.

 The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with thousands of police deployed across parts of India amid fears his devotees could riot. The influential guru, who has been in custody since 2013, had called the trial a political conspiracy and refused to cooperate with a police investigation. A perceived reluctance to bring the charismatic leader to account sparked public outrage. He still commands a devoted following even though his star power is fading following the rape charges and other controversies.

Asaram’s followers have been accused of using violence against those who have spoken out against the guru. Two close aides who turned key witnesses against him were murdered in 2014 and 2015. Asaram is also accused of raping another devotee and suspected of involvement in the killing of two other people. His son is also on trial for rape. But this conviction was the first for the Hindu televangelist and yoga guru, who once attracted seas of fans to hear his sermons. “We argued that Asaram is not a saint,” public prosecutor Pokar Ram Bishnoi told reporters after the sentencing.

Asaram became restless in his teens and ran away from the family home in Gujarat state. He flitted between jobs, selling liquor and fixing bicycles, before landing in an ashram where he found his true calling. He established his first spiritual retreat in Ahmedabad in the 1970s with just 10 members, extolling a simple life and urging his followers to control their lust. A particular target was Valentine’s Day, which he decried as a corrupting force luring youth into “dirty acts”.

Dressed in a crisp white sarong and signature red turban, his daily sermons – later televised to millions – offered yoga instruction and tips on celibacy. He recommended cow’s milk for appendicitis and honey to treat cancer. He attracted friends in high places and many of the ashrams which mushroomed in his heyday were on land donated by successive state governments. Asaram’s movement grew from India’s rural heartland to an empire with 400 ashrams and Ayurveda health centers estimated to be worth more than half a billion dollars.

India is already outraged at the gang-rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician. Prime Minister Narendra Modi – who was criticized for a slow response to the crimes – last week approved the death penalty for child rapists, vowing to hang those “of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters”. Officials from Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party responded angrily yesterday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram. Asaram’s website boasts of many high-profile believers and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers.

Many of India’s numerous “godmen” have been embroiled in scandal. Last year, when a spiritual leader was jailed for 20 years for rape, his devotees went on a rampage that left 38 dead. In 2014 the guru Rampal Maharaj barricaded himself in his ashram surrounded by armed devotees after a court issued a warrant for his arrest. Six people died during the siege. – AFP </s> An Indian guru with 40 million followers was today found guilty of raping a teenage devotee while pretending to rid her of evil spirits.

Asaram Bapu was convicted at a closed jailhouse court hearing in Jodhpur, India, while hundreds of police stood guard.

The 77-year-old leads more than 400 ashrams in India and around the world. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The white-bearded guru, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then-16-year-old at an ashram in the city.

He can appeal the verdict and forthcoming sentence for the 2013 crime to a higher court.

Asaram raped the girl while her parents waited outside his room chanting prayers as he 'cured' her and threatened to kill her family if she told anyone.

The hearing was closed to media and the prison surrounded by tight security, with his sentence to be announced later in the day.

'He has been convicted for rape and sections of stringent child protection law and will get a minimum 10 years or life in prison,' the victim's lawyer Utsav Bains said.

Several Indian states were put on high alert and thousands of extra police deployed ahead of Asaram's trial with authorities fearing riots if 'Babuji' was found guilty.

Devotees of another self-styled Hindu guru Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, who was jailed in 2017 for 20 years for rape, went on a rampage that lasted days and left 38 dead.

Asaram still commands a huge following but his star power has faded following the rape charges and other controversies.

He is also on trial for raping two sisters along with his son Narayan Sai, and involvement in the killing of two students at another of his Hindu retreats.

Meanwhile, the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old and a separate assault on a teenager by a ruling party politician has sparked revulsion in recent weeks and angry marches across India.

Under pressure to respond, the government last week approved the death penalty for those convicted of raping children under 12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi - who was criticised for a slow response to the protests - has since promised 'to hang the people of demonic tendencies who misbehave with daughters'.

'There is a government in Delhi which listens to the hearts of the people and decides on the basis of it,' he told a political gathering Wednesday.

Officials from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded angrily Wednesday as the main opposition Congress party distributed photos of the prime minister alongside Asaram.

Asaram's website boasts of many high-profile devotees and admirers, including Modi and other past prime ministers. </s> The judge read out the verdict against Asaram Bapu inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur in the northwestern Rajasthan state. Heavy security was deployed in the region to prevent possible violent attacks by Bapu's followers.

The 77-year-old self-styled spiritual guru was convicted for raping a 16-year-old devotee in 2013 at his Utsav Bains ashram (spiritual center).

Bapu faces a maximum punishment of life in prison for the crime, the victim's lawyer told Indian media on Wednesday.

Judge Madhusudhan Sharma will announce the prison term after hearing arguments from the prosecution and Bapu's lawyers.

The case is the latest involving high-profile gurus who have been jailed for sexually abusing their female devotees. In August last year, flamboyant Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years in jail on charges of raping two women. Rahim's supporters took to the streets following the verdict, clashing with police and setting public property on fire.

Read more: Followers of convicted Indian guru Ram Rahim Singh end standoff with soldiers

Asaram Bapu was arrested in 2013 after the victim reported to the police that the guru raped her when she visited his ashram with her mother. She claimed that Bapu lured her by promising to cleanse her of evil spirits.

The guru denies the allegations and can appeal against the verdict in a higher court.

Bapu has some 400 ashrams around the world that teach meditation and yoga. According to his website, he has millions of followers in many parts of the world.

He is also accused of raping another woman in Gujarat between 2002 and 2004.

The sprawling network of godmen, gurus and swamis in the Hindu-majority country of more than a billion people has increasingly come under scrutiny for alleged sexual crimes.

Some social commentators in India say millions of Indians seem to be in thrall of these smooth-talking "godmen" who have built vast empires preying on their gullibility.

Bhavdeep Kang, author of "Gurus: Stories of India's Leading Babas" believes that godmen are rarely held accountable, least of all by their devotees.

"The centrality of the godman in the lives of their flock - as spiritual preceptor, family confidante and business advisor - creates a dependency syndrome, making the devotee as invested in the purity of the guru as the guru himself," Kang told DW.

A number of rape cases in the past few years has also shocked the South Asian country, with the government introducing stricter punishments for rapists. </s> An Indian court has found Asaram Bapu, a spiritual leader who has founded hundreds of ashrams in India, guilty of raping a teenage girl and sentenced him to life in prison. The much-watched case has prompted worries about possible reprisals from the guru's followers.

Asaram has denied the charges and he plans to appeal, according to a special notice on his organization's website.

The guru is in his late 70s. The case against him stems from 2013, when he was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting the girl, who was then 16. He has been jailed since then, with courts refusing multiple attempts at bail.

The teen's parents had been followers of the guru; they brought her to one of his ashrams to receive spiritual instruction — but instead, he forced her into sex acts, a court in Jodhpur, in the western state of Rajasthan, said on Wednesday. After the girl told her parents what had happened, they contacted authorities.

"I am happy to get justice ... We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," said the father of the rape survivor on Wednesday, according to the Hindustan Times — which added that police were deployed to ensure the family's safety ahead of the ruling.

Asaram is the second high-profile guru who has recently been felled by rape charges. Last summer, spiritual leader Gurmeet Ram Rahim Sing — the "Guru of Bling" — was convicted of rape. That verdict brought violent protests from the guru's followers in two states, Haryana and Punjab, resulting in a military curfew.

Born Asumal Harpalani, Asaram became a guru in the 1960s. His website claims that at the time of his arrest, he had at least 40 million followers. Asaram began opening ashrams in the early 1970s. In addition to hundreds of those facilities, he owns two magazines, according to the DNA India website.

Both Asaram and his son are also named in at least two other rape cases. Those separate accusations were lodged by two sisters who live in the state of Gujarat and say they were repeatedly sexually assaulted in incidents that date from a little more than 10 years ago.

Asaram's followers have said that the charges against him are part of an attack on Hindu culture. </s> A self-styled Indian spiritual guru who claims millions of followers worldwide has been given a life sentence for raping a 16-year-old girl.

Asaram Bapu carried out the 2013 attack at his ashram in the northern city of Jodhpur, the court ruled. He is expected to appeal.

The guru, who is 77, has 400 ashrams around the world where he teaches meditation and yoga.

He is also on trial in another rape case in western Gujarat state.

Jodhpur is on high alert because of concerns there could be violence from the guru’s supporters, reports BBC Hindi’s Priyanka Dubey who is in the city.
• How a divided India fuelled the rise of the gurus
• Why so many Indians flock to gurusn

“Nothing can compensate for the trauma that the victim and the family have gone through,” Utsav Bains, the victim’s lawyer, told NDTV ahead of sentencing.

The security measures come after followers of another guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, ran amok after he was found guilty of rape last year. The resulting violence killed 23 people.

What was the case against Asaram?

Asaram was arrested in 2013 after a case of sexual assault was filed against him by two of his followers, who alleged that he had assaulted their daughter.

Police say that the couple, who had sent the girl to one of his ashrams for spiritual lessons, were summoned to see her as she was “under the influence of some supernatural ghostly powers”.

They were then told to take their daughter to Jodhpur to meet the guru.

The family reached the Jodhpur ashram on 14 August. The following night, Asaram called the victim to his room on the pretext of “curing” her. He then raped the victim while her parents waited outside chanting his prayers, police say.

Police say the guru forced the victim to perform sexual acts on him and threatened to murder her family if she spoke about the incident.

The victim told her parents what had happened the following day. They tried to confront Asaram, but were refused entry to his ashrams.

Asumal Harpalani was born in April 1941 in a village called Bernai in Sindh region in present-day Pakistan.

His family migrated to Ahmadabad city in Gujarat after the partition of India.

In the 1960s, he started practising spiritualism with different gurus – one of whom gave him the name Asaram. He formed his first ashram in 1972 on the banks of the Sabarmati river in Motera town of Gujarat.

His influence spread to different parts of India and around the world in the following decades.

According to his website, he has 40 million followers around the world and has built 400 spiritual retreats across 19 countries.

Important Indian politicians, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have attended his sermons in the past.

He also has properties worth millions of dollars across India. The police are also investigating him for corruption and forgery.

Asaram is also accused of raping another woman in Surat city in Gujarat between 2002 and 2004. The trial in this case is under way.

At least nine witnesses in both cases have been attacked over the past five years – three of them have since died.

The victims’ families insist that the guru and his followers are behind these attacks – an allegation he denies.

The Jodhpur rape case, for which he has been convicted, has also seen the victim’s family threatened by his followers. BBC </s> Self-styled 'godman' with millions of followers jailed for life for raping minor

Self-styled 'godman' with millions of followers jailed for life for raping minor

A self-styled "godman" has been given a life sentence in India for raping a minor at his monastery in 2013.

Asaram Bapu was given the maximum punishment by a special court after being convicted of assaulting the child, who was brought to his ashram by her parents for treatment.

They were told their daughter was possessed by an evil spirit and could be cured by the godman.

In her complaint to the police, the minor said she was sexually assaulted and threatened by the godman when she was alone with him.

Image: A supporter of India's ruling Congress party uses her sandal to hit a picture of spiritual leader Asaram

Bapu has been in prison during the trial for fear of violence from his supporters.

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Four North Indian states were put on high alert and thousands of policemen deployed as a precautionary measure.

Bapu has over 400 ashrams, or monasteries, in the country - and millions of followers worldwide.

His arrest in September 2013 triggered a spate of violence by his followers who stopped trains and blocked highways - attacking policemen and reporters who were covering the case.

Image: The self-styled godman blesses followers from atop a makeshift trolley in 2013

The administration took no chances on Wednesday and took precautionary measures in all places where the godman had a large following.

Two of Bapu's close associates were also convicted for conspiracy and jailed for 20 years each, while two others were acquitted because there was a lack of evidence.

The victim's father said: "We are happy with the verdict. We have gone through a lot of hardships over the last five years, our lives were threatened."

Image: Police patrol outside Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram Bapu has been held since September 2013

Neelam Dubey, a spokeswoman for the Asaram Ashram, told reporters they will appeal against the verdict in a higher court after speaking with their legal team.

This case had generated a lot of controversy over the past five years.

Nine witnesses who dared to testify against the godman were attacked and three of them were killed.

Kartik Haldar, an associate of Bapu's, was arrested by the Gujarat anti-terror squad and charged with the alleged murders of the three witnesses.

In another case, police in Rajasthan filed a charge sheet against the godman for allegedly filming sexual assaults on women to blackmail them.

Image: Protesters burn an effigy of Asaram Bapu in the west Indian city of Ahmedabad in 2013

Two sisters from Surat in Gujrat have also filed cases of alleged rape and sexual exploitation against the godman and his family.

There have been several rape cases involving minors in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, there were nationwide protests against the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Khatua in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the same time, a legislator of the ruling government was accused of raping a minor in Uttar Pradesh.

The accused in both cases have been arrested and cases have been filed against them.

Image: Volunteers stand at the entrance to one of Bapu's ashrams - also known as monasteries

The brutality of the cases generated a lot of pressure which has forced the federal government to promulgate an ordinance. Under the new law, the death penalty could be awarded to those convicted of raping girls below the age of 12.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for a social movement to ensure safety for women and girls.

He said: "Families will have to enhance the honour and respect of daughters. Families should also make their sons more responsible."

Image: Protests were held after the minor made allegations of sexual assault to police

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a total of 34,651 rape cases were registered in 2017 - 96 a day on average.

Laws relating to crimes against women were changed in 2013 after the gang rape and murder of a medical student in Delhi in December 2012.

Since then, fast-track courts have been established to try cases of crimes against women, and laws have been made more stringent and punishments more severe.

Despite this, conviction rates have been abysmally poor.
Indian guru Asaram Bapu is sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape of a child.