Police arrest suspect after alleged sexual assault of minor at Haryana ashram

Police in Haryana have arrested a man accused of sexually assaulting a minor boy at Satlok Ashram in Sonipat, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Jitender Gehlawat. The suspect, identified by police as Sachin and described as a resident of Kasandi village, was arrested on September 24 and produced before a court. The court remanded him in judicial custody, Gehlawat told reporters.

Police said the Child Welfare Committee chairperson informed Baroda police on September 23 about the alleged incident involving the child, who had visited the ashram in Dhanana. A police team took the boy and his father into protective care. The child was later taken to a hospital in Khanpur Kalan for counselling and medical and legal procedures, police said.

According to the police account, the boy provided information about the alleged incident during counselling. A case was registered at Baroda police station on September 24 on the basis of the father’s statement and information received from the Child Welfare Committee. The case was filed under Section 74 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 10 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Police said the accused was questioned after his arrest and that further legal proceedings had begun. The ashram is associated with self-styled preacher Rampal. The source material does not attribute any role in the alleged assault to Rampal or the institution’s management.

Rampal, 74, left jail in April after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail in a sedition case. That case was registered in connection with clashes between his supporters and police at Satlok Ashram in Hisar’s Barwala in 2014. The current case concerns the alleged assault of the minor and remains subject to legal proceedings.