New Delhi [India] Apr 25 (NT): Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Congress' national general secretary Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday urged the people to make a distinction between real saints and frauds as it harms the image of the nation in the global arena.

The statement was made soon after self-styled godman Asaram Bapu was convicted in a 2013 rape case earlier today.

"The time has come when people should be able to differentiate between the actual saints and the frauds, as this creates a bad image of the country in the international arena," Gehlot asserted in media.

"There is no harm in believing in the 'babas' but blind faith is not good," he further said.

Nearly five years after rape charges were levelled against self-styled godman, Asaram Bapu, the Jodhpur Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe Court pronounced its verdict today. Amid the tight security Judge Madhusudan Sharma pronounced the verdict in the presence of 14 lawyers with 160 documents.

Asaraam sentenced to life imprisonment by Jodhpur court while rest of the two accused Shilpi & Sharad sentenced to 20 years each in jail .

The charge sheet was filed against Asaram in exchange of sexual favours under Sections 342, 376, 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).

Asaram's involvement was probed in two separate cases - one from Rajasthan and the other from Gujarat.

In the case registered in Rajasthan, a teenage girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013, while in Gujarat, two Surat-based sisters lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape.