Court rejects Asaram plea challenging age of victim, slaps fine

Defence counsel had moved the application on May 1 and cited her pre-school certificate as a ground.  “For this, the defence cited girl's pre-school certificate as a ground, which the court refused to accept stating that only secondary certificate was valid as age certificate,” said the counsel.

Rejecting the ground of the application and arguments of the defence, Justice Mahendra Kumar also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000.

“Every time, when the defence had challenged the age of the girl, it has used the ground not legal.  “The main objective of the defence behind getting Asaram discharged from the sections under POCSO Act is to pave the way for his bail and bring down the severity of the crime,” R L Meena, public prosecutor, said, adding that everytime the defence failed to achieve its objective.