Kolkata:
A woman in West Bengal has accused Padma Shri awardee monk Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj, of raping her on multiple occasions since 2013 on the pretext of offering her a job at a school.
The monk, who is associated with Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga unit in the state’s Murshidabad district, however, alleged a conspiracy to “malign his name and fame”.
Maharaj was among this year’s recipients of the Padma Shri award – the fourth highest civilian award – that is given for distinguished service.
The charges against him comes against the backdrop of a political showdown in the state over another rape case involving a law student, by students and a staff member at her college in Kolkata. These incidents also follow last year’s rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that had triggered nationwide protests.
In her complaint with Nabagram police earlier this week, the woman alleged Maharaj had promised her a job at Chanak Adivasi Abasik Balika Vidyalaya – one of the ashram’s schools – when the duo met in December 2012.
The survivor said she was also accommodated at the school hostel in January 2013, with an assurance that she would soon be hired. “However, he would almost everyday take me to a room on the fifth floor of the premises and rape me,” she said in her complaint written in Bengali.
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“On one occasion, Maharaj summoned me and asked me to stay at his ashram for five days. He raped me here as well multiple times. He then asked me to return home and promised to send me money every month,” she added.
The survivor said that after she got pregnant in 2013, the accused, along with some school staff, took her to a private nursing facility in Berhampore for an abortion. “He threatened me when I opposed the idea. In the presence of two (school) staff members, he spoke to a doctor at the nursing home and forced me to undergo an abortion,” she alleged.
The complainant said she hoped and waited to get hired but continued to be sexually assaulted by the accused. “He raped me across several branches of the ashram in Murshidabad. He kept promising me a job and I kept waiting. Eventually, I broke down mentally,” she said.
The woman said she reached out to the monk on June 12. “I called him and he asked me to wait at a particular spot in Berhampore at 7pm on June 13. He said two people would come to pick me up. When the two men arrived and I boarded their vehicle, they threatened me and asked me not to contact Maharaj again. They also abused me and pushed me from the vehicle,” she alleged.
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The woman sought stringent action against the accused.
Maharaj dismissed the woman’s allegations against him. “Time will reveal everything. This is a conspiracy against me to malign my name and fame. There are so many women employed in our ashram and many female disciples. Ask them. Everyone will say we respect women like our mothers,” he was quoted as saying by The Times Of India.
On Friday, the alleged rape of a student by two other students and the staff member of South Calcutta Law College inside the institute sparked a massive political row between the ruling Trinamool Congress and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Four people, including the college security guard, have been arrested so far. A photograph of the prime accused – Manojit Mishra, a practicing lawyer – with TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee gave the BJP fresh ammunition to target the ruling party. The TMC, though, denied having any connection with the accused now and sought “severe punishment” if he is found guilty.
The incident at the law college brought back the horrific memories of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in north Kolkata in August last year.
