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The latest episode of Post Mortem examines the legal trajectories of two convicted godmen, Asaram Bapu and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The Rajasthan High Court delivered a split verdict on Asaram, upholding his life imprisonment for rape under the IPC, sexual exploitation under the POCSO Act, and violations of the Juvenile Justice Act.
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00:21He called himself a saint.
00:24He commanded an empire of devotion.
00:27Hundreds of ashrams, millions of followers and billions of rupees.
00:32For decades, Asaram Bapu was untouchable.
00:37Politicians sought his blessings.
00:39Police hesitated to act.
00:42And when a 16-year-old girl dared to speak the truth, his machine tried to silence her
00:49with threats, with bribes and with blood.
00:53After 13 years of legal battle, India's highest courts have spoken.
00:59The Rajasthan High Court has upheld Asaram's life imprisonment and ordered him to surrender.
01:07This is the story of how one girl's courage brought down a god man.
01:13Hello and welcome to our special show, Postmortem, where we put the spotlight on the crimes
01:19that shock us but make us want to know more and more.
01:31Asumal Sirumalani Harpalani, better known to the world as Asaram Bapu, built one of modern
01:40India's most sprawling spiritual empires.
01:43Born in 1941 in what is now Pakistan's Sindh province, he rose from a small town preacher
01:51to a self-styled god man with an estimated 400 ashrams across India and beyond, a following
01:59of nearly 50 million devotees and assets running into thousands of crores.
02:04He was celebrated. He was powerful. Chief ministers attended his programmes. His ashrams ran schools, hospitals
02:14and gurukuls. Millions considered him God's representative on earth.
02:29But beneath those pious robes and the sandalwood incense, something dark was festering.
02:36Former associates would try and later testify to illegal land grabs, financial fraud, the suspicious
02:45deaths of two young boys inside an ashram. All these cases that were hushed up. Witnesses
02:53that were paid off. And then came the night that could not be hushed. The night of August 15th, 2013.
03:02Independence Day. While the rest of India lit up with celebrations, a 16-year-old girl at the
03:10Manai ashram near Jodhpur was summoned to meet the godman alone. Her parents were devoted disciples
03:18of the ashram. They trusted him completely. What happened next would shatter their faith
03:25and shake a nation. The girl was a student at ashram's gurukul. She had been living there for years,
03:34away from her family. On the night of August 15th, she was told the godman wished to see her.
03:42He said she was possessed by evil spirits. He said only he could cure her.
03:57According to the girl's account, which the court accepted, what followed was not a spiritual ritual.
04:04It was sexual assault. Six days later, her parents filed a complaint in Delhi. The medical examination
04:12confirmed that the girl had told them. A rape case was registered and the FIR was transferred to
04:20Jodhpur police. Now the machine immediately swung into action. Asa Ram's followers issued deniers.
04:28His spokesperson called it a conspiracy. His lawyers moved courts. His supporters blocked roads and
04:37threatened to shut down cities if their guru was even touched. But the police
04:42moved faster. On August 31st, 2013, officers arrested Asa Ram from an ashram near Indore and flew him to
04:51Jodhpur. For the first time in his life, the godman was in handcuffs. What followed the arrest was not just
05:00a
05:00legal battle. It was a war of attrition waged by a godman's empire against the Indian justice system
05:10and against anyone brave enough to testify. The charge sheet was filed on November 5th, 2013.
05:18But by then, the intimidation had already begun.
05:23Akhilesh Gupta, a former associate who was willing to testify, was suddenly dead.
05:29Amruth Prajapati, an Ayurveda doctor and former aide who had made damning allegations about deaths at
05:39the ashram, was shot in Rajkot. He died from his wounds two weeks later. Mahendra Chawla, a key
05:47witness and former personal assistant to Asa Ram's son Narayan Sai, was shot by two men on a motorcycle in
05:56his village in Haryana. He survived but was left partially disabled. Rahul Sachan, another witness
06:04who had filed an affidavit with the Supreme Court, vanished without a trace three months later.
06:12His fate remains unknown till now. Three witnesses, dead or missing. Five others attacked.
06:21Even senior police officers leading the investigation apparently received dead treads. Human rights
06:29watch documented the pattern in a scathing 2018 report, warning that the Asa Ram case exposed a
06:38catastrophic failure in India's witness protection framework. Through all of this, the girl and her
06:47family stood firm. The trial dragged on for nearly five years. On April 25th, 2018, in an extraordinary
06:56measure, the verdict was delivered inside Jodhpur jail itself. A security decision. Given the volatile
07:05environment that was existing outside, Special Judge Madhusudan Sharma found Asa Ram guilty of rape under the
07:13Indian Penal Court, sexual exploitation under the POCSO Act and violations under the Juvenile Justice Act.
07:22The sentence, life imprisonment till the last breath of his natural life. Co-accused Shilpi, also known as
07:31Sanchita and Sharachandra, Asa Ram's attendants at the ashram that night were each sentenced to 20 years of
07:40rigorous imprisonment. For the victim and family who had lived for five years under the shadow of threats
07:47and fear, it was a moment of vindication. But the legal battle was far from over. Asa Ram and his
07:57co-accused
07:58immediately challenged the verdict in the Rajasthan High Court. From 2018 to 2024, Asa Ram remained
08:07incarcerated in Jodhpur jail. He filed dozens of bail petitions in lower courts, the High Court and
08:16even the Supreme Court. Hearing stretched over days, arguments were lengthy and elaborate. His legal team,
08:24which included senior advocates, tried every possible avenue for bail. For six years, every single court
08:32said no. Then in March 2024, for the first time, a court granted him bail, but only for 10 days,
08:42strictly for
08:43medical treatment at a private hospital in Jodhpur. He was 73 years old and his lawyers argued his health was
08:52failing. Those 10 days became the opening of a door. In the months that followed, bail was extended
09:00again and again, each time for medical reasons, each time for just limited periods. By May 2026,
09:10Asa Ram was out on interim medical bail, which had been extended just now until July 7th.
09:18Now the question everyone was asking, what would the High Court say? On Wednesday,
09:24May 27th, 2026, the division bench of Justice Arun Kumar Monga and Justice Yogendra Kumar Purohit pronounced
09:33their judgment. It was not a complete acquittal. It was not a complete dismissal. The bench delivered a
09:42split verdict on the charges. On the more serious charges, gang rape under the IPC and the aggravated
09:50provisions of the POCSO Act related to gang penetrative sexual assault as well as criminal conspiracy, the
09:58High Court granted Asa Ram relief. It declined to hold him guilty under those specific sections. However, and this
10:08is the critical part, the bench upheld the conviction and the sentence on the core charges, rape under the IPC,
10:16sexual exploitation under the POCSO Act and violations of the Juvenile Justice Act. The appeal
10:25against the sentence was dismissed. Life imprisonment till the end of natural life stands. Asa Ram's
10:34co-accused, Sharachandra and Sanchita were completely acquitted by the High Court. The court ordered Asa Ram to
10:42surrender immediately. In 13 years of courtrooms, appeals, bail petitions, threats and intimidation, the
10:52sentence that was handed down inside Jodhpur jail in 2018 has survived. The girl who spoke up on the night
11:01of August 15, 2013 has been heard again.
11:28Now, this case has always been about more than one man in pious robes.
11:34It has been about the structures that protect the powerful, the followers who threatened, the disciples who killed, the institutions
11:45that easily looked away for far too long.
11:50A 16-year-old girl, alone in a room with a man, her parents actually called God.
11:58She told the truth and for that truth, her family endured years of fear, threats and uncertainty.
12:14He is a convicted rapist.
12:16He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
12:19And yet, since his conviction in 2017, he has walked out of jail 16 times.
12:26On Tuesday morning, at 6.30am, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Dera Sacha Sauda Chief, self-styled Messenger of God and
12:37Inmate No. 1997 of Rotak Suneria Jail, stepped out yet again.
12:44This time, on 30 days of parole.
12:47For nine years, a jail gate has meant very little to this man.
12:52And we ask the question that millions of Indians are asking.
12:56Is the law the same for everyone?
12:59Or does it come with exceptions for the powerful, like Gurmeet Ram Rahim?
13:17Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh built something rare, a spiritual empire that was also a political machine.
13:25The Dera Sacha Sauda, headquartered in Sirsa in Haryana, has an estimated 50 to 60 million followers spread across Punjab,
13:36Haryana, Rajasthan and beyond.
13:39It runs schools, hospitals and rehabilitation centres.
13:44It produces films starring Ram Rahim himself in flamboyant sequined costumes.
13:51It holds rallies that fill stadiums.
13:54And it delivers votes, block votes, entire constituencies that swing to whichever political party the Dera endorses.
14:05Over the decades, virtually every major political party, whether it is the BJP, the Congress or the Akali Dal, has
14:14quoted Ram Rahim.
14:15Ministers have visited Deras, politicians have met him, leaders have sought his blessings.
14:24Ministers have met him, leaders have met him, mentors have Util directives and coaches who share hisishes.
14:32The political class looked away when they should have looked closer.
14:38Because behind the spectacle of devotion, the satsang, the charity work, the film productions,
14:46two women were living with a secret that would take 15 years to reach a courtroom.
14:53But even today, the struggle for their justice continues.
14:57In nine years of imprisonment, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has spent a remarkable amount of time outside the prison.
15:06It started with a single day of parole in October 2020, then another day in May 2021.
15:15Then the gates began to open wider and for longer stretches.
15:2021 days, then 30 days, then 40 days, even 50 days, parole after parole, furlough after furlough.
15:30The count? 16 times Sink's conviction in 2017.
15:35One day in 2020, one day in 2021, a 20-day furlough in February 2022, three more releases in 2022
15:44alone.
15:46Four releases in 2023, three in 2024, three releases in 2025 and now in 2026,
15:56he has already been granted parole twice, 40 days in January and now 30 more days beginning May 26th.
16:10By even conservative arithmetic, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a man sentenced to 20 years for rape,
16:18has spent hundreds of days outside jail since 2017, each release the same police convoy,
16:28the same route to the Sirsadera, the same crowds waiting to receive him,
16:34and each release the same questions from his victims and from the public at large.
16:40Why? The opposition has not stayed silent this time.
16:45Shiraumani Akali, the leader and former Punjab Cabinet Minister,
16:50Vikram Singh Majidhia, has been among the most vocal critics of the Haryana government's
16:55repeated decisions to grant this parole.
16:58Pagwantamaa, the leader and the leader and the leader and the leader and the leader and the leader
17:18of the Haryana government's special privileges.
17:25Majid here also targeted Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwan Singh Maag,
17:29questioning why strict action has not been taken against Ram Rahim
17:34in cases which are registered in Punjab
17:36and alleging collusion between the two state governments.
17:41The Haryana government has offered no public response.
17:45The parole orders continue to keep coming.
17:48But let's look at this entire sordid saga now
17:51of how a godman was brought down from his pedestal.
17:57It began not with a police complaint.
18:00It began with a letter.
18:02Anonymous, unsigned, sent directly to the Prime Minister of India.
18:07In 2002, an anonymous letter landed on the desk of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
18:14Its author, a woman, a sadhvi, a follower
18:18who had been brought to the DERA by her own parents,
18:22wrote that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had raped her repeatedly
18:27and threatened her with consequences if she ever spoke.
18:31She wrote that she was not alone.
18:34There were others.
18:35The letter triggered a Supreme Court order
18:38directing the CBI to investigate.
18:41But Ram Rahim's political connections ran deep.
18:45For five years, the investigation barely moved.
18:49It took a decade and a half of persistence
18:52by investigators, by survivors,
18:55and by one journalist who refused to stay silent.
19:00Ram Chandra Chhatrapati ran a small newspaper in Sirsa.
19:04He published the anonymous letter.
19:06He reported on the crimes
19:08that powerful people did not want reported.
19:12In November 2002,
19:14gunmen shot him outside his own home.
19:19He died of his injuries.
19:21In 2019, a CBI court convicted Ram Rahim
19:25of ordering that murder
19:27and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
19:30Though the Punjab and Haryana High Court
19:32later acquitted him of that charge in March 2026.
19:37But the rape case held.
19:40Two survivors had testified.
19:42The CBI had built its case.
19:44And in August 2017,
19:47the moment of reckoning arrived.
19:49On August 25, 2017,
19:51a special CBI court
19:53in Pancukula delivered its verdict.
19:57Guilty.
19:58Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
20:00was convicted of the rape
20:02of two women disciples.
20:04Three days later,
20:06he was sentenced
20:07to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
20:10But the sentence came at a cost
20:12that India had not been prepared for.
20:15In the hours before
20:17and after the verdict,
20:19approximately two lakh
20:21of Ram Rahim's followers
20:22had descended on Pancukula.
20:25When the conviction was announced,
20:27the crowd turned.
20:28Vehicles were set on fire.
20:31Government buildings were torched.
20:33Railway stations were attacked.
20:35Media vans were burned.
20:37The streets of Pancukula, Sirsa
20:39and parts of Punjab
20:41descended into chaos.
20:42When the smoke cleared,
20:45at least 28 people were dead.
20:48Over 250 were injured.
20:50The Indian army had to be deployed.
20:53Six columns of soldiers
20:55moved into Pancukula.
20:57Two more into Sirsa.
20:59Ram Rahim himself
21:01was airlifted by helicopter
21:03to Sunaria jail in Rohtak,
21:05where he has been lodged ever since,
21:08but theoretically.
21:1020 years.
21:12That is what a court of law decided
21:14was the appropriate price
21:16for what Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh did
21:19to two women
21:20who trusted him
21:21as a spiritual guide.
21:2316 paroles.
21:25Hundreds of days outside prison.
21:28A dera that keeps receiving him.
21:31A government
21:31that keeps signing the orders.
21:34The women
21:34who testified against him,
21:36who took on
21:37one of the most powerful
21:39religious empires
21:40in Northern India,
21:41did not do so for this.
21:44India has a rape law.
21:46It appears
21:47India also has a parole system
21:49that can make that law
21:51look optional.
21:52If you have enough followers,
21:54you're powerful enough,
21:55and enough friends
21:56are in the right places.
21:59That's all we have for you
22:00in today's episode of Postmortem.
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