Arguments on charges against Asaram to begin in court tomorrow

JODHPUR: A local court hearing a rape case against controversial godman Asaram Bapu today gave the go-ahead for hearing arguments on the charges against him.

The prosecution will commence arguments on the charges from tomorrow in the District and Sessions court here, as the defence sought more time to decide its arguments on the charges.

Judge Manoj Kumar Vyas court ordered the beginning of arguments from Friday after the prosecution moved an application under section 211 of the CrPC, pleading the court to read out the charges on the accused without arguments.

"There have been 16 hearings in the court after the court took cognisance of the charge sheet, but the defence has been constantly evading the arguments on charges on one ground or the other," Public Prosecutor R L Meena said.

He said, "When we appeared in court today, the defence sought time until the revision petition filed by prosecution in High Court against an order of the lower court to provide the defence with the recording of the statements of the victim and spot of incident was decided.

"When court asked us, we expressed our intention to begin the charge arguments with immediate effect," Meena said.

Upon this, the court allowed the prosecution to begin the charge arguments from tomorrow.

"Now, we will begin the charge arguments from tomorrow, which has already been delayed by two months despite the High Court ordering the hearing to be undertaken on a day-to-day basis," he said.

72-year-old Asaram Bapu is lodged in jail since August last year. He was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his ashram here.

Later, two Surat-based sisters who stayed at his ashram in Gujarat accused him and his son, Narayan Sai, of rape.