Teenager accuses 'godman' Asaram Bapu of sexual harassment in Jodhpur hostel
Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu has been booked on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl who has been staying in a hostel operated by the godman’s trust in Jodhpur, Delhi Police said on Wednesday.
The police said the minor girl submitted a written complaint at Kamala Market Police Station in central Delhi on Tuesday evening. The complaint was filed as a 'zero first information report', which allows a crime victim to approach the police anywhere.
The police said that since the girl has said the incident occurred in Jodhpur, the case will be forwarded to the Rajasthan police.
Deputy commissioner of police, Jodhpur East, Ajaypal Lamba said they are yet to received the FIR from Delhi Police, but according to details available, the girl was studying in an educational institution run by Bapu in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
She had been allegedly molested there and had come to meet Bapu in Jodhpur to complain about the incident. Bapu was in Jodhpur about two weeks back for a satsang (a religious assembly).
After the satsang, he had retired to a farmhouse in Manai village near Jodhpur for meditation. Police said the girl had gone to meet the godman at the farmhouse where he allegedly tried to sexually assault her.
A spokesperson of at the Yog Vedant Samiti, the ashram run by Bapu in Jodhpur, denied the allegations.
Asaram landed in trouble a few months ago for his malicious statement on the Delhi gang-rape incident.
The preacher had invited sharp criticism when he claimed the gang-rape victim could have saved herself by addressing her violators as brothers and asking for mercy. He had said that the 23-year-old student was as responsible for the ghastly incident as the six accused who have been arrested by the Delhi Police.
On Monday, a court in Muzaffarpur granted Bapu a conditional exemption from his personal appearance in connection with a case filed against him for his remarks on the Delhi gang-rape incident.
The godman and his son were also investigated for the death of two cousins studying at his Ashram in Ahmedabad. On July 31, an inquiry commission headed by justice DK Trivedi submitted its final report in the case.
The parents of the two students had alleged the spiritual leader and his son had performed 'black magic' on their wards, which resulted in their death.
On July 5, 2008, decomposed bodies of Dipesh Vaghela (10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11), who were studying at Bapu’s Gurukul, were found in mysterious circumstances on the banks of Sabarmati River, behind the Asaram Ashram.
He was also accused of illegal land-grabbing in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
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