A Gujarat court on Tuesday sentenced Narayan Sai, son of controversial godman Asaram Bapu, to life imprisonment for raping a female disciple. He has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 1 lakh by the Surat sessions court.
Narayan has also been asked to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the victim.
His disciples Ganga and Jamuna and aide Hanuman, who helped Narayan to commit the crime, were given 10 years of imprisonment. Another aide, Ramesh Malhotra, got an imprisonment of six months.
The victim was raped repeatedly between 2002 and 2005 at Jehangirpura ashram in Surat. She, however, lodged a complaint only in 2013 after a 16-year-old girl from North India gathered courage to speak up against Narayan's father Asaram. He, too, is serving lifer in a rape case.
More than 50 witnesses were examined in the case. Narayan's wife also deposed before the court.
Narayan is also facing a case for allegedly bribing police officers while being in prison.
Narayan's advocate B.M. Gupta said that the verdict would be challenged in the higher court. He warned that the verdict would have “serious” implications. Gupta said that the court relied only on the complainant's deposition.
Gupta and his team of lawyers submitted before the court that there were no evidences against Narayan. They also asked the court to consider that he has been behind the bars for five years and four months.
The prosecution had demanded the most stringent punishment for Narayan so that such acts are not repeated. They had also demanded that the victim be given compensation of Rs 25 lakh. The court, however, ordered Narayan to give Rs 1 lakh to the victim.
The father and son duo own two big ashrams over sprawling pieces of land in Ahmedabad and Surat.
In the past there have been instances when the disciples have behaved unruly in the public. There has also been an instance of attacks on the media. However, the disciples have remained silent after the conviction of Asaram.