India: Digambar Jain muni sentenced to 10 years for raping a woman who sought him as her guru
Record class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
Digambar Jain muni regarded as the family's guru
Organization
No organization assigned
Spiritual nexus
The victim and her family regarded him as their guru and travelled specifically to seek his religious guidance; she was inside that guru-devotee relationship, in the dharamshala where he was lodged, at the moment of the assault.
- Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
- Threatened spiritual consequence
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2025-04-05 · conviction and sentence
Sessions Court, Surat, Gujarat, India. A Surat sessions court sentenced Digambar Jain monk Shantisagarji Maharaj to ten years' imprisonment for the 2017 rape of a 19-year-old woman who had travelled with her family to seek his guidance at a Jain dharamshala. The court relied on the complainant's testimony, medical reports and CCTV evidence.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- guru authority over a devotee family seeking religious guidance
Primary record
Sources
- national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Gujarat court sentences Jain monk to 10 years in jail for rape of young woman', Deccan Herald (2025).
Reports the sessions court conviction, the ten-year sentence, and the evidentiary basis including testimony, medical reports and CCTV.