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oberliner

(58,724 posts)
Wed Apr 25, 2018, 06:02 AM Apr 2018

India guru Asaram Bapu found guilty of raping teen devotee

Source: CBS News

An Indian court on Wednesday found a high-profile spiritual guru Asaram Bapu guilty of raping a teenage female devotee in 2013 and sentenced him to life in prison. The verdict against 77-year-old Bapu was read out inside a prison in the city of Jodhpur in Rajasthan state because of fears that his followers may resort to violence.

The case is the latest in a series of high-profile rape cases in India that have fuelled public protests and raised questions about how police handle the cases and treat the victims.

In August last year, another popular and flamboyant Indian spiritual guru, Dr. Saint Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim Insan, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of raping two female followers.



Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/india-guru-asaram-bapu-convicted-of-rape-of-teen-devotee-as-in-jodhpur/

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India guru Asaram Bapu found guilty of raping teen devotee (Original Post) oberliner Apr 2018 OP
A lot of spiritual gurus seem a bit cult-like IronLionZion Apr 2018 #1
Thankfully there now seem to be consequences for those actions oberliner Apr 2018 #2
They do it in the U.S. also: dalton99a Apr 2018 #3
They look like this also IronLionZion Apr 2018 #5
NXIVM wolfie001 Apr 2018 #4

IronLionZion

(45,615 posts)
1. A lot of spiritual gurus seem a bit cult-like
Wed Apr 25, 2018, 07:06 AM
Apr 2018

It's very disappointing if they use their power and influence for rape

 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
2. Thankfully there now seem to be consequences for those actions
Wed Apr 25, 2018, 08:05 AM
Apr 2018

In the past, this was not prosecuted particularly rigorously (is my understanding).

dalton99a

(81,681 posts)
3. They do it in the U.S. also:
Wed Apr 25, 2018, 08:28 AM
Apr 2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakashanand_Saraswati

https://www.statesman.com/news/local/wanted-hindu-guru-escaped-india-officials-say/7Ab2cP5nHMURmCvIQ20OXN/
Wanted Hindu guru escaped to India, officials say
Updated Sept 25, 2012
By Eric Dexheimer

Two days after a Hays County jury convicted Prakashanand Saraswati of 20 counts of indecency with a child for groping two teenagers who lived at the Hindu ashram he'd founded, newly filed court documents say his followers met in a devotee's home a mile up the road in Driftwood to plan how to spirit him out of the country before his sentencing.

Later that night of March 6, 2011, or early the next morning, at least one of them accompanied the guru, who uses a wheelchair, over the Mexican border to Nuevo Laredo, according to the documents. After secretly moving just south of Tijuana in mid-2011, Prakashanand — who'd shaved his long white beard and cut his shoulder-length hair — then used a fake passport to escape to India in November.

The information, as well as other details of how Prakashanand's followers in Texas and across the country clandestinely moved the spiritual leader while evading law enforcement, is included in court documents filed in Hays County. An affidavit in support of a search warrant signed last week by a Hays County judge seeks access to Yahoo email accounts of a preacher and close associate of the guru's who lives in India.

Although many of the assertions in the document came from law enforcement interviews with devotees, much also was obtained from cellphone records and private emails written between Prakashanand's followers.
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