Law student ‘bobbitises’ swami
trivandrum — A 23-year-old law student chopped off the genitals of a man when he allegedly tried to rape her at her home in Pettah, police said on Saturday.
According to a complaint filed by the woman, the 54-year-old man had been harassing her for many years. When the man tried to abuse her on Friday night at her house, she protested and chopped off his genitals with a knife, police said.
State Women’s Commission member Prameela Devi expressed shock over the incident and said the woman was forced to take the extreme step after suffering years of “harassment, pain and humiliation”.
Prameela Devi said she felt proud of the woman. “Such acts by anyone, especially when it comes under the guise of a religious tag, irrespective of the religion, is not acceptable,” she added.
The incident came to light after the suspect, identified as Gangeshananda Theerthapada alias Hariswami, who claimed to be an inmate of Panmana Ashram in Kollam, was admitted to the government medical college hospital here with critical injuries in the wee hours, police said. He underwent an emergency surgery and his condition is stable now, they said.
According to the woman, the suspect had been known to her family for the past few years and used to frequent her house to perform rituals ensuring relief to her paralysed and bed-ridden father.
Police said the girl’s parents, who live at the same house, were unaware of the assaults by Swami. “The woman told us that her parents blindly trusted this Swami, and he used to get frequent invites to perform special ceremonies and stay over at their house, where he assaulted her,” district police chief G Sparjan Kumar said by phone.
She is now under police protection and receiving trauma counselling. A case has been registered against the man under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) and IPC 376 (punishment for rape). No case has been registered against the woman so far, police added.
BJP leader K. Rajashekharan also demanded action against the godman. “Anyone who does a crime needs to face consequences,” he said.
However, the man reportedly told police that he had chopped off his genitals himself.
The management of Panmana Ashram, associated with social reformer Chattambi Swamy, said Gangeshananda had come to the ashram as a ‘brahmachari’ (celibate) 15 years ago, but did not complete his course and had left mid way.
There have been other recent incidents of sexual assault involving religious men in Kerala.
Two nuns and a priest, accused of covering up the birth of a baby born to a teenage girl who was allegedly raped by another priest, were arrested in Kerala last month.
Last year, a priest was sentenced to 40 years in prison by a Kerala court for raping a 12-year-old girl in 2014. — PTI, IANS, AFP