JODHPUR: Anticipating trouble from the followers of selfstyled godman
Asaram, accused of raping a teenage girl, the Jodhpur police moved the high court seeking directions to the trial court to pronounce the judgment in the case, scheduled on April 25, at the court of
Jodhpur Central Jail
, where the accused has been cooling his heels after his arrest in August 2013.
While hearing the plea, the division bench of justices G K Vyas and
Ram Chandra Singh Jhala
sought a written reply from the defence and listed the matter for hearing on April 17.
Citing the example of the conviction of Dera Sachcha Sauda supremo
Gurmeet Ram Raheem
, which led to widespread ruckus and violence by his followers and resulted in the death of 30 persons, police have stated that such a situation could arise in Jodhpur also.
‘Followers of Asaram seem to be aggressive’“Asaram’s followers appear to have been more aggressive as their clashes with the police on the court premises have been quite regular and the police have had a very tough time in dealing with them,” said additional advocate general (AAG) Shiv Kumar Vyas.
He also cited a series of fatal attacks on prosecution witnesses in cases against Asaram in Jodhpur and Surat which happened on the court premises.
Opposing the arguments of the state counsel, defence counsel Mahesh Bora argued that there was no such provision by which the judgment was pronounced in the jail’s court.
He also argued that when the entire trial has happened in the regular court, judgment could also be pronounced in the regular trial court.
“The court sought a written reply from us but we sought some time, upon which, the court deferred the hearing till April 17,” said Bora.
It may be recalled that the convergence of Asaram’s followers have many a time led to law and order problems in the city.
In the past four-and-ahalf years after Asaram was jailed in Jodhpur, there have been many clashes between the police and his followers and 69 cases have been registered, including those in which even police officers have been bullied and threatened.
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