E-Paper
Rape of over 100 women: Self-styled godman ‘Jalebi Baba’ to spend 14 years in jail
Additional district judge Balwant Singh awarded 63-year-old Amarpuri 14-years’ jail under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act for raping a minor two times, 7-year jail each in two rape cases under Section 376-C of the Indian Penal Code and 5-year jail under Section 67-A of the IT Act. He was, however, acquitted in an Arms Act case.
A fast-track special court in Haryana’s Fatehabad on Tuesday sentenced self-styled godman Amarveer, popularly known as Amarpuri alias Billu alias Jalebi Baba, to 14 years in jail for raping more than 100 women and making video clips of the crimes.
Additional district judge Balwant Singh awarded 63-year-old Amarpuri 14-years’ jail under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act for raping a minor two times, 7-year jail each in two rape cases under Section 376-C of the Indian Penal Code and 5-year jail under Section 67-A of the IT Act. He was, however, acquitted in an Arms Act case.
All the sentences will run concurrently and the godman will spend 14 years behind bars, said Sanjay Verma, counsel of the victims.
“He has been in jail for the last 4.5 years and will have to stay in jail for nine-and-a-half years. The accused Baba was acquitted in the Arms Act. Other details of the judgment will be revealed after seeing the copy of the order,” he added.
The Fatehabad court had convicted self-styled godman Amarveer, popularly known as Amarpuri alias Billu, under rape charges on January 5. The accused could not be awarded sentence on January 7 as the complete hearing was not done. The godman had burst into tears in the courtroom after he was convicted by the judge.
Police in 2018 recovered 120 purported sex video clippings of ‘Jalebi Baba’, from Tohana town of Fatehabad district and arrested him.
On July 19, 2018, an informer had shown a sex video clip to the then Tohana police station house officer, Pradeep Kumar. On SHO’s complaint, the accused Godman was booked under sections 292, 293, 294, 376, 384, 509 of the Indian penal code and section 67-A of the IT act. A year earlier in 2017, the accused Godman Amarveer was booked under Sections 328, 376, 506 of the Indian penal code at Tohana city police station on a complaint filed by a woman.
The then Fatehabad women’s police cell incharge Bimla Devi had confirmed that the 120 sex video clippings were recovered from the mobile phone of the accused Amarpuri of Baba Balak Nath Mandir, Tohana.
The statements released by the police had then read, “It appears the person indulging in sexual activities in these clippings is the same baba, though we will get it examined from the cyber cell. Two of the victims have already come forward, though, it is yet to be verified whether their videos were also prepared. All video clippings have been prepared with the help of mobile phones.”
The then Fatehabad women’s police cell incharge Bimla Devi had said the women used to come to the self-styled Godman, who was a tantrik (occultist), to resolve the problems related to ghosts.
“He used to offer drugs in some liquid to the women. It was alleged that he used to sexually exploit them. Later, Jalebi Baba used to blackmail these women to take money from them,” Bimla Devi had stated.
Who is Jalebi Baba
Amarveer, a widower who is the father of four girls and two boys, had shifted to Tohana in Haryana’s Fatehabad from Mansa in Punjab in 1984. In the first 13 years in Tohana, he ran a Jalebi stall, where he met an occultist who brought him into this profession. For a few years, he disappeared from Tohana and came back nearly 20 years ago and built a house and a temple, where some followers, mostly women, started coming. In 2018, the wife of one of his acquaintances had accused him of raping her inside the temple but he managed to get bails multiple times in the case.
Other self-styled godman found on wrong side of law
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been serving a life-term for murder of a Sirsa-based journalist in 2002. He is also serving jail term for the murder of his manager and a 20-year jail term for raping two of his followers.
Rampal, the self-styled godman who heads the Satlok Ashram in Haryana, is also serving life term in the murder case of four women and an-18-month old baby. He was arrested on November 19, 2014, following several days of face-off between the police and his supporters outside the Satlok Ashram in Hisar’s Barwala. Four women were found murdered in the ashram after the stand-off ended and a woman and the infant later died in hospital.
