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Victim’s father welcomes Asaram’s conviction, says they were living in fear
Talking to reporters outside his house in Shahjahanpur, after the court convicted Asaram of rape, the father said they had full faith in the judicial system.
The father of the woman raped by Asaram expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court convicting the self-styled godman on Wednesday, and thanked the judiciary and the media for it.
“I am happy to get justice... We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice,” he said after the court pronounced its verdict.
“For the past four months, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)... it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him... We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit,” he added.
The Jodhpur court found the 79-year-old guilty of raping the woman in 2013, who was 16 years old at the time.
The victim, who hails from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, said Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013. She was studying at the Asaram’s ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
Ahead of the pronouncement of the judgement, the district administration had extended security to the victim’s family. The administration had also stepped up vigil at Asaram’s ashram at Rudrapur, about two kilometres away.
Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He has been under judicial custody since September 2, 2013.
