NEW DELHI (AA) - Asaram, one of the prominent religious or spiritual leaders of India, a category generally described as ‘godmen’, has been arrested over allegations of raping a minor girl.
The 72-year-old preacher was detained from his ‘ashram’ (centre for spiritual activity) in Indore, Madhya Pradesh state, his largest centre.
Asaram has been taken to Jodhpur in the western desert state of Rajasthan where he will be produced before a magistrate and the police would ask for his custody to question him about the charges against him.
He was booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code.
The arrest came 12 days after a 16-year-old student of his ‘Gurukul’ (residential school) accused him of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur.
The girl, who comes from the central north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, had filed a complaint at a police station in the east of the national capital New Delhi on August 20.
In her statement to the police, she said Asaram had threatened her to remain silent about the incident or he would kill her family.
Asaram denies the accusation and, like his son Narayan Sai, accusing the girl of being "mentally unstable".
Hours before his arrest, the victim's family started a 24-hour hunger strike in Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh state, demanding Asaram's immediate arrest.
Many had accused the police in the Congress-ruled Rajasthan state of dragging their feet in moving against Asaram.
The self-styled godman, whom his followers call ‘Bapu’ or ‘father’, has been at large for days with the police serving him summons instead of taking him into custody as is done for such crimes.
He first went to the Gujarat state, which is ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and then to the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, located in the middle of India.
Following his trail, police served Asaram a notice at his ‘ashram’ in Indore, asking him to appear before police in Jodhpur for questioning before or on August 30.
However, he sought more time on grounds that someone from the family had passed away.
The cat-and-mouse game continued with police the whole of Friday as a team of Rajasthan police awaited him there.
Trying to avoid any violent situation, the police had refrained from using force against the self-styled godman and did not go after him as he remained holed up in his ‘ashram’ in Indore.
The police finally arrested him on Saturday midnight.
The case against the Asaram and the police's wariness in arresting him had led to protests, counter-protests and political wrangling.
His followers flooded the streets across the country in protest against the allegations levelled against him.
Many pro-Asaram protestors had turned violent and even attacked media people covering the story.
In Jodhpur, Saturday morning, the preacher's supporters attacked media persons and seriously injured two.
Some leaders of the BJP, India’s main opposition party, had spoken in favor of Asaram, while Congress and other parties maintained that he must be treated like any ordinary person accused of crime.
Asaram has been in controversy before.
In 2007, a member of Asaram’s ashram, Raju Chandak, claimed in an affidavit filed with the police that black magic rituals were being performed in his ashram in which he was a personal witness to women being sexually exploited.
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