Godman Asaram’s son gets life imprisonment on rape charges

A Surat sessions court sentenced Narayan Sai, the son of jailed self-styled godman Asaram, to life imprisonment in a rape case filed against him by a former woman disciple in 2013.

The court convicted Sai on charges of rape, unnatural sex, assault, and criminal intimidation among others. The case against Narayan Sai dates back to 2013 when two Surat-based female devotees accused him and his father of sexually assaulting them.

Additional sessions judge P S Gadhvi handed the life sentence to 47-year-old Sai and imposed a fine of Rs1 lakh on him.

The court also directed Sai to pay Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the victim.

The court had pronounced the judgement in the case on April 26 when it convicted five of the 11 accused and acquitted the rest.

In their complaint, the two women had claimed that they were raped by Asaram and his son Narayan Swami. While the elder sister had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Gujarat’s state capital Ahmedabad between 1997 and 2006, the younger sister accused his son Narayan Sai of raping her at his Ashram in Surat between 2002 and 2005. Based on an official complaint by the two sisters, police arrested Narayan Sai in December of 2013.

Sai’s father Asaram was convicted by a Jodhpur court in a rape case in April last year and sentenced to a life term.