New Delhi: The Gujarat government will move high court to challenge the acquittal of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's wife, their daughter and his four disciples in a 2013 rape case in which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, news agency PTI reported. "The state's legal department passed a resolution on May 6 and directed the prosecution to file an appeal against the acquittal of six accused by a Gandhinagar court in the 2013 rape case against self-styled godman Asaram," special public prosecutor in the case, RC Kodekar, told PTI.
A court in Gandhinagar sentenced Asaram Bapu to life imprisonment on January 31 in the rape case filed by his former woman disciple in 2013. However, his wife Laxmiben, their daughter Bharati, and his four disciples, who were also accused of aiding and abetting the crime, were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The prosecution has also sought the government's consent to challenge the Gandhinagar court's order, in which it suggested that life sentences for Asaram in Jodhpur and Ahmedabad cases should run parallelly. The government's consent is awaited, Kodekar said.
Notably, Asaram is currently serving life term in a Jodhpur jail in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.
The Gandhinagar court sentenced the self-styled godman in the case for raping a woman disciple on several occasions from 2001 to 2007 at his ashram at Motera near Ahmedabad before her escape.
In its order, the court said that Asaram sexually abused a victim of a younger age than his daughter and committed a crime that cannot be taken lightly.
It said the accused committed "a very serious crime against the society and such a heinous crime cannot have any place of sympathy and should be punished to the fullest extent prescribed by law. It becomes the moral responsibility not only of the society but also of the court to set an example and prevent such a behaviour.”