India Jails Guru For Raping 16-Year-Old Girl

Asaram Bapu in the middle

A 77-year old Indian spiritual Guru, Asaram Bapu has been sentenced to life in prison for raping a teenage girl in 2013.

Bapu, who claims to have millions of followers worldwide, was sentenced after a court in the western Indian city of Jodhpur on Wednesday ruled that he had raped a 16-year old girl at one of his ashrams, where he instructed his disciples in meditation and yoga.

Bapu's spokesperson, Dubey said: "We have full respect for the courts. If the lower court verdict doesn't go our way, we will approach the High Court or Supreme Court."

Bapu was arrested in 2013 after two of his followers alleged that he had raped their teenage daughter under the pretext of exorcising her, as they waited outside his special chambers intoning prayers for their child’s well-being.

The victim told her parents what had happened the following day and when they tried to confront Bapu they were barred from entering any of his ashrams.

Police say the guru forced the victim to perform sexual acts on him and threatened to murder her family if she spoke about the incident.

Disclaimer: Stories culled and pictures posted on this blog will be given due credit and is not the fault of drifternews.blogspot.com if website culled from misrepresents source of story.