Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur)

Wife of MP bizman also renounces daughter, assets to become monk

- Mustafa Hussain and Punya Priya Mitra letters@hindustant­imes.com

NEEMUCH/BHOPAL: A JAIN LEADER SAID NO ADMINISTRA­TIVE OR JUDICIAL AUTHORITY COULD INTERVENE IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS OF MINORITY COMMUNITIE­S

Two days after her husband Sumit Rathore became a Jain monk, renouncing ₹100 crore property and threeyear-old daughter, 34-year-old Anamika Rathore too became a sadhvi on Monday amidst opposition from various quarters.

Akhil Bharatiya Sadhumargi Jain Shravak Sangh Neemuch district in-charge Sandeep Khabia said the function was held in Surat under Acharya Ramlal Ji Maharaj, the same guru who had initiated her husband to monkhood.

However, this time, the elaborate ceremony was missing, although the immediate family was present. Anamika will now be known as Sadhvi Anakaar.

The couple’s announceme­nt that they would become monks together had sent shockwaves throughout the community and they had faced criticism, mainly for leaving their three-year old daughter. Activists had even moved the local administra­tion in Neemuch and Surat and also written to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

On Saturday, when Sumit became a monk, it was speculated that social pressure had postponed Anamika’s joining, and it would take her years to become a sadvhi.

Hinting that the Jain religious leaders won’t tolerate interferen­ce from ‘outsiders’, sant Udai Muni, who is quite high in the Jain hierarchy, said no judicial or administra­tive power in the country could intervene in religious affairs of the minorities.

According to the religious leader, Sadhvi Anakaar had given a ‘befitting’ reply to police and administra­tive officials who had come to question her under orders of the NHRC.

According to him, Anamika told the officials, “My child will not become an orphan if I leave her. My brother and sister-in-law who are issueless have gladly adopted her. My father’s family is rich and so is my father-in-law’s family. The charges levelled by public representa­tives and others who had complained to the NHRC are false and had been done to get cheap publicity.”

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