Gandhinagar: A sessions court in Gandhinagar awarded life imprisonment to self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in a decade-old rape case of 2013. The court in its verdict on Monday had found Asaram Bapu guilty of rape.

The prosecution claimed before the court that Asaram was a “habitual offender” and sought life imprisonment for him along with a heavy fine. Sessions court judge D K Soni pronounced the ruling and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Asaram.

This is the second life term given to the 81-year-old in two rape cases. He is already serving his first sentence in Jodhpur jail in another case of raping a minor girl at his ashram in Rajasthan in 2013.

Asaram has been convicted under IPC sections 376(2)C, 377, 342, 357, and 506. A woman from Surat registered a case against Asaram Bapu in the year 2013 for alleged rape in the year 2001. 55 witnesses appeared before the court in this case. Out of a total of 7 accused, all 6 barring Asaram Bapu are acquitted in this case due to benefit of the doubt. Among the other 6 accused were Asaram Bapu’s wife and daughter and Mahila Ashram’s administrator.

Asaram’s lawyer told media persons that the verdict will be challenged in the High Court after studying the lower court judgment. Asaram’s son, Narayan Sai, is also convicted of raping the complainant’s sister and is serving life imprisonment. DeshGujarat