Asaram a 'great saint'? Govt to withdraw class 3 moral science book that shows him with Swami Vivekananda

Self-styled godman Asaram has been in jail since August 2013 for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old schoolgirl. The witnesses linked with the case against Asaram have been mysteriously dying. In July this year, the victim’s father even gave the police an audio clip in which Asaram is allegedly heard offering a bribe to a witness, who was killed later. However, all these facts are apparently not important for a Delhi-based publication called Gurukul Prakashan. In a book called Nyaya Ujala, currently part of the moral science curriculum for Class 3 students in Jodhpur schools, Asaram has been called a ‘great saint’, according to The Times of India .

An image released by ANI shows Asaram in the book along with people like Guru Nanak, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Mother Teresa. According to DNA , the book claims that it follows NCERT’s Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation guidelines. The Jodhpur education department has also pleaded ignorance on the entire issue. [caption id=“attachment_2375778” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Asaram has been accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl and two sisters from Gujarat. PTI[/caption] Asked about the inclusion of Asaram’s name, a representative of the publishing house said when the book was published, there was no case against Asaram, reported PTI. “Now we are withdrawing the books from the market and are preparing a new edition of the book sans Asaram”, he said. When officials of the education department were asked about the book, they said notices would be issued to the school authorities where the textbook is part of the curriculum. “There is no such information that we have. How can we act if there is no information?” District Education Officer (elementary education) Prabhu Lal Panwar told Indian Express . After being jailed in August 2013, Asaram, along with his son Narayan Sai, was also booked for the alleged rape of two sisters in Surat, Gujarat. In the last attack on witnesses in the case against Asaram, a cook was shot dead in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh in January this year. Nine witnesses have been attacked so far and three of them have died as a result of them. (With inputs from PTI)