I was 64 and she was 21, Asaram told the HC – The girl could have pushed me and run away, this is a fake case, dismiss the sentence
He says that he has already filed an appeal against the sentence. He does not think that his writ will be heard soon. Therefore, till the hearing is not completed, the sentence should be dismissed.
By filing an appeal in the Gujarat High Court, Asaram has appealed that his sentence be suspended for some time. He has been convicted for raping his student. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He says that he has already filed an appeal against the sentence. He does not think that his writ will be heard soon. Therefore, till the hearing is not completed, the sentence should be dismissed.
Asaram said in his appeal that this case itself is false. According to the FIR, she was 64 years old when the rape took place. While the girl is only 21 years old. She could have easily pushed him and run away. But she is saying that she was forcibly raped. Asaram says that this whole matter is false. He was implicated in the conspiracy, because some people started getting irritated with him and his ashram.
Nothing was wrong in the ashram but people gave testimony to implicate him
Referring to the witnesses, he said that all those who reached the court in this matter were angry with him for one reason or the other. Some were expelled from the ashram and some did not like the ashram. Asaram quoted the investigating officer as saying in his report that some witnesses admitted that they did not see anything objectionable in the ashram. But if Asaram is punished by his testimony, he will give a statement. He says that the manner in which the case was registered after 12 years of the incident is also under suspicion. Why was the case not registered immediately?
Asaram’s petition was to be heard on Tuesday by a bench of Justice AK Kogge and Justice Hasmukh Suthar. But at present it has been postponed till 17 August. Asaram also argued that he is 84 years old. Suffered from many diseases. He has been in jail for a long time. He is facing many problems due to his old age.
Asaram has been convicted in three cases, is lodged in Jodhpur jail
According to the FIR lodged at the Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad, the victim girl was forcibly confined by Asaram in his ashram in Surat from 2001 to 2006. She was raped several times. However, this is not the first case in which Asaram has been punished. Even before this, he has been convicted in two cases. In both cases, he has been sentenced to life imprisonment. He is lodged in Jodhpur jail since 2018. In 2013, he was arrested from Indore. After that he was shifted to Rajasthan jail.
