Godman Asaram Bapu Is Found Guilty Of Rape And Here’s How Twitter Reacted To The News

Another day, another godman found guilty of rape.

India is the land of gods and the same goes for apparent godmen who consider themselves the some of the biggest devotees of the god and the one who have the access to reach him. Millions of people in India currently follow atleast one of these hundreds of godmen and months after months, more and more of these godmen are getting convicted for their crimes.

The recent one being Asaram Bapu who has been in jail for almost four years now, ever since a case against him was registered in 2013 of raping a 16-year-old girl. While his existence has always been felt fishy for non-supporters, the Jodhpur case shed light on the brutality with which godmen like him function.

But on Wednesday, Special Judge Madhusudhan Sharma delivered the verdict in a makeshift court at the Jodhpur Central Jail, where Asaram Bapu has been lodged since 2013. And, as per the judgement, Asaram has been found guilty of rape.

Elaborate security arrangements were made with Section 144 being imposed in the city. The charge sheet had named Asaram and four others — Sanchita alias Shilpi, Sharad Chandra alias Sharat Chandra, Prakash and Shiva alias Sava Ram Hethvadiya. Asaram is charged under sections of the POCSO Act, Juvenile Justice Act, and IPC

Before the judgement was to be pronounced, security in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Haryana was beefed up as directed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and additional forces were deployed in order to ensure that there was no violence. Something that usually happens whenever an influential man, especially a godman, is convicted of his crimes.

Asaram is not a small godman, but one with world-wide supporters and an extremely heavy and influential bank balance. In 2014, investigators estimated the value of this wealth at between Rs 9,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore, “in the form of bank accounts and other investments including shares, debentures and government bonds.” This figure did not include the value of the land held by Asaram’s ashrams across several states, as reported by The Caravan.

The pronouncement on Asaram case was something the entire country was looking forward to and it had rightly gripped the nation-wide attention. And, as the pronouncement was made official, social media started booming with tweets on the case. Many hailed the judgement given by the court. Here are some of the reactions of the pronouncement on Asaram’s case.

The case was registered by the family member of the victim who hailed from Uttar Pradesh in 2013. And, even though the judgement came a bit too late, it finally did, ending the years-long misery of the witnesses as well as, of the family that booked the charge against him.

Jyotsna Amla