Jaipur: The Jodhpur central jail will become court premises for the trial court which is due to issue a verdict in Asaram rape case on April 25. The self-styled godman is lodged in the jail. A petition for the same was filed by the district administration in the Rajasthan high court to which it accepted and directed the jail authorities to make all arrangements for the verdict and deploy adequate security.

The move to hold the judgment in the jail premises was taken after anticipating a law and order problem if there is a gathering outside the court. The decision was taken after the Jodhpur administration had moved the high court after the trial in the case ended on April 7. Trial Court Judge Madhusudan Sharma delivered the verdict.

Hailing the court order, Jodhpur Superintendent of Police (SP) Amandeep Singh said: “We were foreseeing a law and order problem that has taken place in other states also recently, so we prayed that the judgment is given on the jail premises itself. We are relieved this has happened, Asaram’s followers can now be restricted”.

In a similar but at a larger scale, there was large-scale violence in Haryana after another self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of rape by the Panchkula Court.

Authorities arrested Asaram in August 2013 over the charges of sexually assaulting a minor girl at his Jodhpur ashram and was put in jail since then.

The other accused in relation with the case is Sanchita Gupta alias Shilpi, the warden of Asaram’s ashram in Madhya Pradesh’ Chhindwara, his cook Prakash, aide Shiva and ashram director Sharad Chandra.

The charge sheet was filed by the Jodhpur police on November 6, 2013, after an investigation that went on for a period of 77 days. The 1,011-page charge sheet contains the statements of 58 witnesses.

According to the charge sheet details, the cook and the warden of the ashram in Chhindwara where the young girl studied made up a story by saying that there were evil spirits in the young girl and she needed to be exorcised by Asaram.

The girl’s parents were a long time devotee of Asaram and were convinced by the explanation given and brought their daughter to the Jodhpur ashram and here it was that Asaram sexually assaulted her, the charge sheet said.

The charges levelled against Asaram are rape, human trafficking, wrongful confinement and conspiracy under various sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC), Juvenile Justice Act and Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

“We are ready to create a court inside the jail; all arrangements will be made. Asaram has been in this jail for almost five years. There is no security issue, but on the day of the verdict, we will deploy additional forces,” said Vikram Singh, Deputy Inspector General (Jails).

Asaram and his son Narayan Sai are also accused in another case of sexual assault lodged by two Surat-based sisters.

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