Plea in Lucknow court for criminal case against Asaram Bapu

Lucknow: An application was today moved in a local court here seeking direction to lodge a criminal case against spiritual leader Asaram Bapu for his remarks in connection with the Delhi gang-rape case. The application was moved in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajesh Upadhyaya by social activist Madan Lal Shukla. [caption id=“attachment_581399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: YouTube[/caption] The applicant has alleged that Asaram Bapu made the statement to insult women, which was an offence under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), his counsel Pramod Kumar said. The words of the spiritual leader were deplorable not only for the victim, but for entire womanhood, he alleged. In the petition, Shukla also said he wrote a letter to the Director General of Police, but allegedly no action was taken. The CJM court has sought a report from Hazratganj police on the application and fixed 22 January as the next date of hearing. Asaram Bapu recently courted controversy for suggesting that the victim of the brutal sexual assault in Delhi was equally responsible for the crime and saying she could have called her assailants brothers and begged them to stop. The young woman was gangraped on the night of 16 December in a moving bus and died nearly a fortnight later at a Singapore hospital. PTI