Shahjahanpur: The father of the teenager raped by Asaram on Wednesday expressed satisfaction over the Jodhpur court verdict convicting the self-styled godman and demanded the "strictest punishment" for him.
"I am happy to get justice, I thank the judiciary and the media for it," the rape victim's father said after Asaram's conviction by a Jodhpur court.
"We had complete faith in the judiciary and are happy that we got justice," he told mediapersons soon after the court verdict.
"For the past four years, our family members had not been coming out (of our house)...it is satisfying that the verdict has gone against him," he said.
"We were living in constant terror, our business was adversely hit," he said.
Speaking about the hardships faced by the family during the trial of the case, he said he was given "allurements and life threats"
"...his (Asaram's) men asked me to go before the media and say that he is innocent and the court will free him and they will give me as much money as I want...with police security at our place, threats were also sent through our relatives," he said.
Terming the self-styled godman as a "fraud", the father said such people brainwash god-fearing commoners and gradually win over their loyalty making them believe that "the guru is supreme".
"People like us are brainwashed into believing that they are incarnation of God. Their so-called mystic powers are repeatedly mentioned and they become the focus of their disciples," he said.
"When we got completely brainwashed, we were told that there are gurukuls where our children will do good," he said.
"When I came to know what had happened to my daughter, it was shattering for us...we lost all faith in him when we learnt about his misdeeds," he said, demanding the "strictest punishment" to Asaram.
The Jodhpur court found 77-year-old Asaram guilty of raping a teenager five years ago.
The teenager from Shahajanpur in Uttar Pradesh was studying at the self-styled godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
The victim had alleged that Asaram had called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013.
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 km away.
Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013.
