The true story of Manoj Bajpayee's Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai and the Asaram Bapu rape case
Manoj Bajpayee plays advocate PC Solanki in the movie Sirf Ek Banda Kaafi Hai. Photo: Social Media
Manoj Bajpayee’s new OTT release, Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai which dropped on streaming platform Zee5 on May 23 has been received well by the audience. The movie is loosely based on controversial godman Asumal Sirumalani Harpalani AKA Asaram Bapu’s trial in the Jodhpur court in connection with the rape of a 16 year-old girl who lived in Asaram's ashram in Jodhpur.
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The plot is centered around advocate Poonam Chand Solanki, known as PC Solanki, who fought the trial against Asaram for nearly five years. Solanki fought bravely against legal stalwarts like senior lawyers like the late Ram Jethmalani, Salman Khurshid and Subramanian Swamy who represented Asaram in the higher courts.
The movie shows the resilience shown by Solanki, who was an expert in the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO) Act 2012, which was slapped against Asaram for raping a minor.
Manoj Bajpayee as PC Solanki also succeeds in delivering a top-notch performance.
Who is PC Solanki?
Solanki is a lawyer in Rajasthan who comes from a very modest background. Born to a former railway mechanic, Solanki is the only brother of three sisters. Though his family had to toil hard to afford his education, they ensured Solanki eventually studied law.
He joined the bar in 1996. His big case came in in 2002, when he filed a PIL in the Rajasthan High Court against the immersion of the Ganesh idols made of plaster of Paris in Gulab Sagar near Ghantaghar in Jodhpur, as it led to the death of a large number of fish.The court banned the immersion of idols in the lake.
Solanki vs the stalwarts
Solanki was approached by the parents of the girl in 2014 as he was an expert in the POCSO Act back then. Not only did Solanki take up the case despite it being a controversial one, he also refused fees from the girl’s parents.
He went up against nearly 30 legal experts like Ram Jethmalani, Salman Khurshid and Subramanian Swamy, who were roped in as legal defence by Asaram Bapu.
“We were fighting for justice and not for money. It was a different scenario where the defence had lawyers charging lakhs for each hearing,” Solanki told The Times of India in 2018, after the judgment against Asaram Bapu was pronounced.
Solanki also said that he faced innumerable threats and was offered crores of money to refrain from pursuing the case.
Asaram moves court against makers of the movie
Asaram Bapu moved an application in the Rajasthan HC seeking to ban the release of the film as it portrays him in a negative light.
However, the court rejected Asaram’s application saying that the movie had already been released and that banning it now would result in financial losses for the producers.
The case that landed Asaram in prison
(Trigger warning: Rape)
The rape of a 16-year-old girl in 2013 and the subsequent FIR filed by the Delhi Police changed the life of Asaram Bapu forever.
The girl, who hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, had accused Asaram Bapu of raping her at his residence in the Manai village near Jodhpur on August 15.
She was a student of Asaram at one of his ashrams, and her parents were his devotees. It was alleged that the girl was taken to Asaram after she had fallen ill and that Asaram Bapu was to “cure her of her evil”. She accused Asaram of inappropriately touching her private parts and asking her to perform oral sex on him when she was alone with him in a room.
The girl’s parents lodged a complaint against Asaram, after which he was arrested and flown to Jodhpur.
The trial in the court went on for nearly five years since 2013; and in 2018, the 81-year-old godman was convicted of multiple charges and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment.
The godman was charged of Section 376 (rape), 342 (wrongful confinement), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (insulting the modesty of any woman), Section 8 of the POCSO Act and Sections 23 and 26 of the Juvenile Justice Act.
The controversial godman, who enjoyed considerable influence in the corridors of power, was brought to book once the judgement in this case was delivered. Following the verdict, more girls accused Asaram of rape.