Indian guru sentenced to life in prison in second rape case

• Self-proclaimed spiritual guru Asaram has millions of followers.
• He has ashrams all over the world.
• He was convicted of raping a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in India.

A self-proclaimed spiritual guru from India was given a life term in prison after raping one of his followers.

Asaram was convicted of repeatedly assaulting the woman at his ashram in the western state of Gujarat between 2001 and 2006.

The 81-year-old was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in 2018 and is now receiving a life sentence.

His attorney declared that he would challenge the most recent court ruling.

Asaram has millions of followers and hundreds of ashrams all over the world. He is well-known for his yoga and meditation teachings.

Prior to the ruling on Tuesday, Gujarati authorities boosted security due to fears that the guru’s fans could retaliate violently.

Asaram was found guilty of several offences under the Indian Penal Code, including rape and wrongful confinement, by a Gandhinagar city court a day earlier.

Due to insufficient evidence, six other defendants in the case, including Asaram’s wife and daughter, were exonerated.

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On Tuesday, the court ordered Asaram to pay 50,000 rupees ($281; £228) in restitution to the victim in addition to a 23,000 rupee fine.

When the woman reported the guru in 2013, the allegations of sexual abuse initially surfaced.

She said that Asaram repeatedly sexually assaulted her at his ashram in the city of Motera, where she was imprisoned for five years before she was able to flee.

Narayan Sai, Asaram’s son, was also given a life sentence in 2019 for raping the woman’s younger sister.

Asaram was detained in 2013 after two of his followers accused him of raping their daughter and launched a separate sexual assault complaint against him.

According to the police, he lured the woman to his room in his ashram in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, on the pretense of “healing” her, and then sexually assaulted her there.

They stated that the guru had threatened to kill her family if she told anybody about the encounter and had coerced the victim into having sex with him.

In conjunction with the case, two of the guru’s assistants were also found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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