Uttar Pradesh: Four women accuse head of Sant Kutir ashram and his three aides of rape and torture
The complainants also named two female workers in the FIR.
Four women at the Sant Kutir ashram in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district have filed a First Information Report against the ashram’s head and his aides, accusing them of rape and torture, DNA reported on Wednesday. The accused are believed to be absconding.
One of the complainants said she was 12 years old when she came to the ashram in 2012. “I was naive and did not know what was being done with me,” ANI quoted her a saying. “When I refused to do anything, three babas here raped me. I was kept captive, beaten up and repeatedly raped.”
We received complaint of sexual exploitation of a few women at an Ashram by the men there. We have lodged an FIR & legal proceedings are being followed. We'll take further action as per the findings: Sankalp Sharma, SP Basti pic.twitter.com/ePHMkqFLFb
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) December 20, 2017
The women escaped from the ashram and went to Sankalp Sharma, the superintendent of police in Basti. Besides Sachchidanand, the ashram chief, the women filed complaints against three others – Chetnanand, Viswashanad, and Bairajyanand. Two female workers at the ashram were also named in the FIR.
Dharam Raj Chaudhary, a spokesperson for the ashram, refuted the allegations, DNA reported. “They were thrown out of the ashram for financial irregularities,” he said. “There is not an iota of truth in their allegations.”