‘No coercive steps till next hearing': Calcutta HC on rape case against Padma Shri awardee Kartyk Maharaj
The counsel for Kartik Maharaj had put in an application for an in-camera hearing in the matter, which Advocate General Kishore Dutta had objected to. The matter will be heard again on Monday.
On Tuesday, Maharaj moved the Calcutta High Court to seek protection from coercive action and have an FIR against him quashed. He is accused of rape, multiple incidents of sexual assault, and forcing the alleged victim to have an abortion. The counsel mentioned the matter before Justice Joy Sengupta.
Speaking to The Indian Express, counsel Kaustav Bagchi said, 'The submission of the Advocate General against the in-camera hearing shows how vindictive the state is and how they want to malign a Padma Shri awardee.'
A monk of Bharat Sevashram Sangha in Murshidabad, Maharaj termed the complainant's allegations as 'baseless'.
The complainant had filed a complaint with the Nabagram police station nearly 12 years after the alleged incidents began. She claimed that she met Maharaj in 2012, and that he offered her a teaching job. She claimed that she accepted the job and was allotted a room on the fifth floor of the school premises. She alleged that Maharaj would frequently summon her to his office and eventually sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions. In her complaint, she expressed concern that other women also may have faced similar ordeals.
Nabagram police issued notice to Maharaj to appear for questioning on Tuesday, following which Maharaj approached the High Court.
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Though we made peace just before he passed, I could not attend his funeral,' he says. Despite his Indian roots, Bharadia has never visited India. 'My family has not lived in Gujarat for generations now. Most of them are in London now. My father was born in Africa, my mother in Uganda. He moved to London in the early 1970s. They migrated to the US in 1984.' Since his exoneration, Bharadia has been living with his mother, nearly 75. Stating that he still 'hasn't fully processed the ordeal I went through' he says, 'She is glad to see me out of prison. Till date, I am not in touch with most of my family members, just an aunt and some of my father's relatives. People just walk away when they see a scandal, which affected my father. They succeed in life, while I ended up in prison.' In prison, he says, he spent his time reading books since words of encouragement were few and far between. 'I read books, like Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. It spoke to me. I read nearly three books a week in jail. I stayed in touch with family through phones that other inmates had (smuggled in),' he says. One thing that helped Bharadia in jail was talking to people. 'One of these people is Jennifer Thompson, a friend, rape survivor and a bestselling author (of Picking Cotton, a memoir of her case). She became my go-to over the years, especially when I was depressed about my situation. Then there is Christina (Cribbs, his attorney).' On his future plans, Bharadia says, 'I saw my 20s, 30s and 40s go by in jail. I will be 51 soon. I grew up in a Gujarati-speaking household, but forgot the language in prison. Maybe I will pick up the language again. I also plan to write books. I already started writing one, Eastern Fathers, Western Sons, a few years back. It comes from my own challenges in my relationship with my father. He grew up in the East and I, in the West. We spoke different languages. I also plan to join a vocation that will help me support others, including trafficking victims, in fighting against similar injustices.'
