Haryana: Who is 'Jalebi Baba', the self-styled godman convicted for raping over 100 women

A fast-track special court in Haryana's Fatehabad sentenced self-styled godman Amarveer, popularly known as Amarpuri or Jalebi Baba, to 14 years in jail for raping more than 100 women and making video clips of the act.

The 63-year-old accused used to drug the women who came to him to ask for help of some sort and rape them, India Today reported. The self-styled godman 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.

As per Sanjay Verma, the counsel of the victims, all the sentences will run concurrently, and the godman will spend 14 years behind bars. The Fatehabad court convicted him under rape charges on January 5.

In 2018, the Haryana Police arrested Amarpuri from Tohana town of Fatehabad and recovered purported sex video clippings from the mobile phone of Amarpuri, who 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.

It was revealed 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 these women, sexually exploit them and make videos of the act. Post this, he used to blackmail these women for money.

The self-styled godman is reportedly a widower who is the father of four girls and two boys. He had shifted to Tohana from Mansa in Punjab in the year 1984.

"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," as per India Today.

(With inputs from Bajrang Meena)

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