Asaram verdict: Disquiet in his ashrams, talk of conspiracy

But soon after learnt that Asaram had been convicted of raping a teenage girl and sentenced to life in prison, the devotees started leaving the ashram. Some cried. There was no unrest.

The ashram authorities issued a release, urging devotees to maintain order. “We have faith in the judiciary and everyone has to assist in the judicial process in a peaceful manner…those who create chaos cannot be my devotee,” a release issued by the ashram quoted Asaram as saying.

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D G Vanzara

Among prominent followers of Asaram to visit the ashram after the verdict was former IPS officer D G Vanzara, who had remained behind the bars for nearly eight years in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan encounter cases and was discharged in the former and granted bail in the latter case.

Waving a bunch of papers that he claimed was a copy of the FIR into the Jodhpur rape case, Vanzara said, “I feel this is not the case of rape as we perceive. The victim never said that she was raped either in her statement before the magistrate (under Section 164 of CrPC) or during the trial.”

Vanzara, who has been vocal about his “devotion” to Asaram and has been defending him ever since the “godman’s” arrest, said that it was “wrong to call Bapuji a rapist”. He said, “We respect the (court’s) decision but it is improper to dub Bapuji (Asaram) as a rapist for being convicted in the sexual assault case… I want so say this to the countrymen and Gujaratis that this is not a case of rape.”

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Miles away in an ashram in Delhi’s Ridge forest area, Asaram’s devotees sat in small circles and spoke in hushed tones as they came to know about the judgment. “We will move the High Court and appeal. There has to be justice,” a saffron-clad monk, whose job was to ensure that only devotees enter the ashram on Wednesday, said loudly on his phone. Behind him hung a faded photograph of Asaram that once greeted visitors as they entered the ashram. Outside, a bunch of police personnel guarded a narrow pathway leading to the ashram’s courtyard. It would be easy to miss the entrance of the ashram had it not been for the vehicles parked outside — an SUV, next to a sedan with a Delhi government employee sticker, and an autorickshaw behind it.

Ramesh (31) with wife Revati Singh (25), a couple from Bihar who have made Delhi’s Sarita Vihar their home, arrived in an autorickshaw. They asked the guard whether it was possible to go inside the ashram and pray. “We didn’t have children even after several years of being married. We went to every doctor, but they found nothing wrong. Then we came to Bapu (Asaram) — he gave us a flower and asked us to pray twice a week. We did, and then we were blessed with a baby girl,” Ramesh said.

Read | Asaram convicted for raping minor, sentenced to imprisonment till death

Asaram Bapu was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in Jodhpur (Express photo by Ashwin Sadhu)

Each devotee arriving at the ashram was equally convinced that the rape charges, the conviction and the sentencing were all a part of a larger conspiracy. “These are all lies and are being used by the same people who want Bapu’s mission to fail. They are also the same people who tried to take away this ashram,” said Sudhir Chandra Mishra, a Delhi-based businessman, referring to the National Green Tribunal’s order of demolition of illegal structures after a petition claimed that the ashram was built on the protected Ridge forest.

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An Asaram follower who is a Delhi government official, who did not wish to be named, said, “There are thousands of structures on the Ridge today. Was this a forest years ago? Possibly. Is this a forest still? No. People who come here harm no one. But political forces conspired to keep Bapu in prison. The same people who sought his blessing before an election are denouncing him today.”