Haryana: ‘Jalebi Baba’ drugged, raped, taped over 100 women, jailed for 14 years
Afast-track court in Haryana’s Fatehabad sentenced a self-styled godman, known as Amarpuri or Jalebi Baba, to 14 years in jail for raping over 100 women and making video clips of the act.
The accused used to drug the women who came to him to ask for help of some sort and rape them. He used to record the act and then used to blackmail them for money by threatening to make videos public.
Additional district judge Balwant Singh awarded 63-year-old Amarpuri 14 years’ jail under Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act for raping a minor two times, 7-year jail each in two rape cases under Section 376-C of the Indian Penal Code and 5-year jail under Section 67-A of the IT Act. He was, however, acquitted in an Arms Act case.
All the sentences will run concurrently and the godman will spend 14 years behind bars, said Sanjay Verma, the counsel of the victims.
The Fatehabad court convicted self-styled godman Amarveer, popularly known as Amarpuri alias Billu, under rape charges on January 5. The godman had burst into tears in the courtroom after he was convicted by the judge.
Out of the several women, six victims appeared in court as victims. On the basis of the statements of the three victims, the court pronounced the judgment.
WHAT IS THE CASE?
The Haryana Police in 2018 arrested Amarpuri from Tohana town of Fatehabad and recovered 120 purported sex video clippings from his mobile phone. Amarpuri was a chief seer at Baba Balak Nath Mandir in Tohana, Haryana.
The then Fatehabad women’s police cell in charge, Bimla Devi, had confirmed that the 120 sex video clippings were recovered from the mobile phone of the accused, Amarpuri.
During the investigation, it came to the fore that the women used to approach Amarpuri, who had developed a reputation as a tantrik (occultist), to solve their problems. He allegedly used to offer drugs to women in some form or other, sexually exploit them and make videos of the act. Then he used to blackmail these women for money by threatening to make videos public.
These incidents came to light when, on July 19, 2018, an informer had shown a sex video clip to the then Tohana police station house officer (SHO), Pradeep Kumar. On SHO’s complaint, the accused Godman was booked under sections 292, 293, 294, 376, 384, 509 of the Indian penal code and section 67-A of the IT act.
(With inputs from Bajrang Meena)
