‘Godman’ booked for raping disciple at Delhi ashram
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Sunday booked a self-styled godman on the alleged charges of rape after one of his disciples filed a complaint against him at south Delhi’s Fatehpur Beri police station on Friday.
Police said the godman, regularly seen participating in religious television programmes, runs ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan.
The 26-year-old woman, in her complaint, accused the godman of sexually assaulting her two years ago, first at his ashram in Delhi and then once again in Rajasthan. She also accused his two male associates of allegedly raping and sexually assaulting her during her stay at the ashram two years ago.
“The woman claimed a close female disciple of the godman had forced her to his room on the pretext that other girls and women at the ashram had been doing the same thing to earn his blessings,” said a senior police officer associated with the case.
“The woman has told us that she didn’t file a complaint for two years because she was scared of the godman and could not muster courage to even tell her family members about his crimes,” the officer said, quoting her complaint.
Romil Baaniya, deputy commissioner of police (south), said, “An FIR under sections 376 (rape), 377 (sexual assault), 354 (molestation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered on Sunday at the Fatehpur Beri police station on the basis of the woman’s complaint.”
DCP Baaniya said the complainant’s statement will be recorded before a magistrate and a notice will be served to the godman and the three other suspects, asking them to join the probe, which has been transferred to the district investigation unit.
The officer said the woman’s parents, followers of the godman, had left her at the ashram in 2007. She fled the ashram and returned to her parents in 2016 following repeated sexual assaults. The woman complained that the godman and his associates made several attempts, included intimidation, to bring her back to the ashram.
On Monday evening, Swati Maliwal, chairperson, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), tweeted that she had met the woman and listened to her ordeal.
Maliwal said she had issued a notice to the Delhi Police to “immediately provide her with protection” and arrest the godman.
Repeated calls made on the mobile and the landline numbers mentioned on the website of the godman’s Delhi ashram for an official comment on the case went unanswered.