No coercive action against Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk Kartik Maharaj
Kolkata, July 2 (UNI) There will be no coercive action against Bharat Sevashram Sangha monk Swami Pradiptananda, also known as Kartik Maharaj, against whom an FIR was filed accusing him of raping a woman in 2012 at his Beldanga ashram in Murshidabad, Calcutta High Court sources said today.
State advocate general Kishore Dutta assured the court that since he was unable to argue today owing to his health condition, no coercive action would be taken against the monk.
Padma Shri awardee Kartik Maharaj has been accused of repeatedly raping a woman after luring her with a job promise at a school in December 2012. The woman in her complaint alleged that the Maharaj threatened and forced her to undergo an abortion.
Kartik Maharaj, the chief of Bharat Sevashram Sangha Beldanga ashram in Murshidabad yesterday filed an application seeking quashing of the FIR before a bench of Justice Jay Sengupta.
The matter is expected to come up on Thursday, sources said.
UNI PC PRS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
From child protection to ‘moral policing' tool: How POCSO Act is leaving courts conflicted
Designed to protect children from sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography, the POCSO Act defines as a 'child' anyone under the age of 18 and applies to both male and female victims and offenders. On interaction with her, it was found that she was a 'victim' under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and her child's father had been sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment by a trial court under the Act. New Delhi: Two years ago, a young woman in a rumpled saree and unkempt hair showed up at the Calcutta High Court and stood in a corner of one of the courtrooms with a baby in her arms. She reached the court before the judges' arrival at 10.30 am and stayed till they rose for the day. This continued for two days, before the court grew curious. The woman had told the court that her relationship with the accused was consensual and that she had married him 'out of her own volition'. As the matter unfolded, the Calcutta High Court set aside the trial court's judgment in the case of the young couple, terming it a matter of 'non-exploitative consensual sexual relationship between a minor girl and an older adolescent or may be a young adult'. It also made observations advising adolescent girls to 'control sexual urges', which led to nationwide outrage. Taking suo motu cognisance of the HC's observations, the Supreme Court in December 2023 criticised the remarks as well as the high court's verdict in the matter. Then, in August 2024, it set aside the HC order and restored the trial court verdict convicting the accused. However, in May, using its powers to do complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution, the apex court declared that the convict will not undergo the 20-year jail term, concluded that his imprisonment would cause further harm to the young woman, now aged 21. The Supreme Court also formed a committee of experts in the case, which highlighted 'collective failure of the systems that are there to protect a girl child'. The report found that it was not the offence under POCSO Act which had traumatised the young woman, but the legal battle that was taking a toll on her. The report suggested that the family— the woman, the accused and their child—should stay intact so that the accused father may be able to participate in the child's upbringing. While refusing to sentence the man, the SC bench had candidly admitted: 'The society judged her, the legal system failed her, and her own family abandoned her.' The court too noted that if the accused was sent to jail, the victim herself would be the 'worst sufferer'. This case, it said, was an 'illustration of the complete failure of our society and our legal system'. The judgment has opened up criminalisation of consensual adolescent relationships under the POCSO Act to debate. The central government told the Supreme Court Wednesday that it was against carving out any exceptions for adolescent relationships under the POCSO Act, saying that this 'would be not only legally unsound but also dangerous, as it would provide a defence mechanism even to those abusers who exploit the child's emotional dependence or silence'. It also underlined that the current threshold of 18 years as the age of consent must remain 'strictly and uniformly enforced'. While the SC clarified that its May judgment should not be treated as a precedent, Swagata Raha, Director, Research, at Enfold India, a non-profit organisation focused on addressing gender-based violence and child sexual abuse in India, termed the verdict 'compelling', asserting that it urges to revisit the impact of criminalisation under the POCSO Act. The judgment, she told ThePrint, shows the judiciary is also 'conflicted' about the nature of this criminalisation. 'If you look at the history of this case, the Supreme Court has restored conviction, and said there is no such thing as romantic cases. And yet they realise, after speaking to the victim, that sentencing her husband would actually place her at greater risk and vulnerability.' The POCSO Act, Raha asserted, has turned into a 'moral take on what we think adolescents should be doing, criminalising behaviour that is normal'. Also Read: Supreme Court stays Bombay HC's 'no skin touch, no sexual assault' verdict in POCSO case 'Control sexual urges' The young woman in the saree was 13 years old when she met the then 25-year-old man in the year 2017. The two claimed to have fallen in love, and the girl left her home a year later in 2018. Within days, her mother lodged a complaint against the accused. The girl was then placed in a shelter home, before she moved back to live with her parents. However, the stigma of the incident travelled with her. Court orders note the humiliation she felt once she returned home, with the entire village talking about her. The girl then chose to live with the accused's family and gave birth to their daughter in 2021. It was then that the police machinery sprung into action and arrested the accused that year. The arrest left the girl shattered and alone, and the infant with separation anxiety, the committee appointed by the apex court noted. The girl also ended up spending around Rs 2 lakh and was caught in a debt trap trying to get her husband out of prison, it added. The accused was convicted and sentenced in 2022 by the trial court. Overturning the conviction a year later, the Calcutta High Court observed that it was the duty or obligation of every female adolescent to 'protect her right to integrity of her body, protect her dignity and self-worth, thrive for overall development of her self-transcending gender barriers, and control sexual urge/urges as in the eyes of the society she is the loser when she gives in to enjoy the sexual pleasure of hardly two minutes.' Question of 'older adolescents' As the court's comments went viral, the Supreme Court stepped in, and last August, a bench comprising Justices Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan restored the trial court's judgment in the case. The apex court observed that the HC had made observations that were 'utterly irrelevant' and shocking and also rapped it for having 'invented a non-existent category of older adolescents'. 'We fail to understand this concept of 'older adolescents',' it said. Avaantika Chawla, assistant professor at Jindal Global Law School, pointed out that the Supreme Court has allowed for an exception for such cases in the past. For instance, she pointed to a 2022 judgment in which the court had set aside the conviction of a man under the POCSO Act, noting that it was a 'custom in Tamil Nadu of marriage of a girl with the maternal uncle'. The court had refused to disturb the couple's 'happy family life'. 'So, the Supreme Court itself seems to be giving conflicting judgments,' Chawla, who specialises in child rights, told ThePrint. She pointed out that in cases of consensual sexual activity between two adolescents, it is always the boy who ends up being the accused—despite the fact that POCSO Act itself is gender neutral and recognises boys as victims too. 'That's a violation of Article 14 (right to equality). And the Supreme Court has not responded to this issue at all. So, this was a good opportunity for the court to address such issues, but they didn't do it,' she added. The Law Commission of India, back in 2023, had also suggested the introduction of 'judicial discretion' while awarding sentence in cases of consensual romantic relationships involving adolescents between the ages of 16 and 18 years. Chawla believes that the Law Commission report was 'more progressive' than the Supreme Court's August 2024 judgment that refused to recognise consensual relationships between adolescents. Committee's startling report Upholding the conviction of the accused, the apex court constituted a committee of three experts, including a clinical psychologist and social scientist, possibly for the first time. This panel was to meet the young woman and help her make an informed choice on whether she wants to continue to stay with the accused and his family. The committee made some startling submissions. It traced the girl's struggles while tackling the legal system for getting her husband released. Its preliminary report revealed that the legal battle had resulted in the family suffering emotionally and financially. The final report was a damning account of the implementation of the POCSO Act—from failure of child protection committees at the village level, to the lack of provision for free legal aid and sufficient counsellors from both genders in schools and welfare homes. It also highlighted the stigmatisation of girls in similar situations, and the lack of awareness and sensitisation among family members as well as public officials. Raha said that while the SC's judgment refrained from going as far as saying that the POCSO Act should be revised, it definitely drew attention to the plight of the victim. 'It has changed the jurisprudence around it, because you've never, in the past, looked at what victims want, and here they have acknowledged the individuality of the girl or the woman concerned,' she added. Raha pointed out that while in this case, the woman was only a teenager at the time of the incident, 'there has to be a balance somewhere in law to recognise at what age we can say that they are able to enter into relationships, and should we instead prioritise access to health services, information, and non-judgmental support.' Criminal law is not the answer, she asserted. Chawla held the same view. 'It is very clear that the law, the way it stands, is not working. Adolescents are both being heavily disadvantaged and their lives are disrupted. A law that was made to protect these children is no longer acting as a protective shield. It is, in fact, harming the lives of these children,' she said. Also Read: Opening pant zip, holding child's hand not sexual assault under POCSO, says Bombay HC The conflict in courts Several high courts have in the past asserted that the POCSO Act has not been enacted for consensual adolescent relationships and been proactive in quashing such cases. For instance, back in 2021, the Madras High Court observed that the Act was never intended to cover cases where adolescents or teenagers are involved in romantic relationships, and suggested that the law be amended to exclude such cases. In 2023, it even directed the police to examine all pending cases involving minors, and asked them to check how many fell under the category of consensual relationship. In 2023, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to a man under the POCSO Act, observing that the law wasn't intended for romantic relationships between teenagers. More recently, the Delhi High Court this year made a similar observation, calling for 'a compassionate approach that prioritises understanding over punishment in cases involving adolescent love'. While under the POCSO Act a person below 18 years of age is termed a child, Raha asserts that developmentally, 'adolescent' is a distinct category. 'Adolescence is a very distinct phase of life, and there is the entire argument that you are looking at something that is developmentally normal, and you are trying to criminalise that behaviour, thinking that it will be a deterrent when, in fact, sexual exploration is normal at that age,' she told ThePrint. 'The question is not whether adolescents also deserve protection. They do, but when that protection ends up eroding their rights and their dignity, the question one is asking is whether law should have room for that nuance of recognising that they have different capacities, different abilities,' she explained. 'Criminalising romance' Internationally, the age of consent in most countries is 16 years, while in India it is 18 years. The age of consent here was increased from 16 to 18 years when the POCSO Act was brought in. In its submissions filed Wednesday in response to a 2012 public interest litigation calling for proactive measures after the Delhi gangrape incident, the Centre has objected to any change in the statutory age of consent fixed at 18 years. 'Any departure from this standard, even in the name of reform or adolescent autonomy, would amount to rolling back decades of progress in child protection law, and undermine the deterrent character of statutes like the POCSO Act and the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita),' the Centre's response, seen by ThePrint, states. However, the petitioner in the case, Delhi-based advocate Nipun Saxena, told ThePrint: 'There are multiple cases being registered under the POCSO Act, not by the girl's themselves, but at the instance of their parents and family members.' 'The stand of the Union is that if the age of consent is lowered, it would be an impetus for younger people to marry, and it would lead to an uptick in child marriages. But this argument is inherently fallacious, because this unilateral increase of age (of consent) from 16 to 18 has resulted in more elopement cases than ever, and has resulted in more child marriages, to get out of the rigors of the POCSO Act,' he explained. He further emphasised on the right to express oneself sexually, and asserted the right of every adolescent from 16 to 18 years to express love. 'It criminalises romance in that sense,' he told ThePrint. Amicus curiae in this petition, senior advocate Indira Jaising, told the court earlier this week that when sexual activity between the ages of 16 and 18 is consensual, it cannot be said to be a form of abuse, and so, provisions of the POCSO Act must be read to exclude consensual sexual behaviour between the ages of 16 and 18. She cited data from the National Crime Records Bureau which showed that the number of juveniles (especially those aged 16 to 18) apprehended under the POCSO Act jumped 180 percent between 2017 and 2021. She, therefore, suggested a close-in-age exception, applicable where both parties to the sexual act are adolescents aged between 16 and 18 and the sexual act is consensual. 'Such an exception would preserve the protective intent of the statute while preventing its misuse against adolescent relationships that are not exploitative in nature. The reading down would ensure that voluntary relationships between adolescents are not criminalised under a provision meant to punish abuse,' her submissions, seen by ThePrint, state. A look at exemptions Raha referred to the 'Romeo-Juliet' legal provision in several countries, suggesting carving out an exception in the POCSO Act for those between the ages of 16 and 18 in India. 'If you're above the age of 16 and you are entering into a (sexual) relationship, if you are saying it is consensual, then we trust that, unless that consent is vitiated (on) grounds, such as, it's against your will, there has been use of intoxicating drugs, or coercion, or it is with a person who's in a position of trust or authority, or there has been some exploitation, or trafficking… those are the grounds which will vitiate the consent,' she explained. In foreign countries, such exceptions protect consensual relationships between minors or between a minor and a male adult if the age difference between the two does not cross a certain threshold—intending to keep adolescent consensual relationships out of the ambit of criminalisation. However, Raha believes that looking at only the age difference between the girl and boy, similar to other countries, may not be feasible in India, because age gap is common. Therefore, while advocating for an exception, Raha speaks against a close-in-age exemption, that is, restricting the exception to age difference between the couple in question. 'A Romeo-Juliet clause will not take away the fundamental problem, which is that you are criminalising behaviour that is normal,' she said. She added that when an offence is registered under the POCSO Act, even though it may end in an acquittal, the parties involved are subjected to humiliation and trauma of going through the police investigation, medical examination, and trial. 'Even in this case, if you see, it has taken us seven long years to achieve some conclusion. So, imagine the impact on young people's lives–the developmental impact, health impact, finances, being able to pick up a job, reputation,' she said. According to Raha, criminal law including the POCSO Act is also being viewed as a deterrent against early pregnancies and early marriages. 'But criminal law cannot deter that. The only thing that can deter that is comprehensive education on sexuality through health services. How can the POCSO Act help you ensure that young people are not engaging in sex, or young people are not getting pregnant? You are trying to solve a problem that is genuine using means and methods that are absolutely unrelated,' she told ThePrint. Meanwhile, in the case before the Supreme Court, the committee's report noted that the family of the accused was very poor, and that the couple was living in a temporary shelter enclosed by brick walls and a tarpaulin roof. The accused was working hard as a daily wage labourer, and the young woman had rejoined school, studying in the 10th standard. Court orders noted that the couple was keen on ensuring that their daughter gets educated. The committee said the relationship between the two followed the triangular theory of love, according to which intimacy, passion and commitment are key for love. While initially passion and intimacy may have taken centre-stage for the couple, the committee found that the young woman was now 'deeply committed' to the accused in the case. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: When there's a predator in the family — why punishing child incest under POCSO is a whole other battle
United News of India
6 hours ago
- United News of India
NHRC seeks ATR on Odisha police inaction on labourer's murder
Bhubaneshwar, July 27(UNI) The National Human Rights Commission has directed the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police of Odisha's Jajpur district to furnish an action taken report (ATR) on the alleged cover-up by local police of brutal murder of a worker in a stone crusher unit. The complainant Srikant Pakal, a rights activist, alleged that the victim, a 22-year-old labourer, was brutally beaten with an iron rod on April 27, 2025 by his employer along with his associates of Padmabati Crusher Unit, under Rahadpur Gram Panchayat of Dharmashala Block in Odisha's Jajpur district. The labourer later succumbed to injuries after battling for life for four days. Despite the gruesome assault resulting in the tragic death of the hapless victim, the police did not register a complaint as the assailants were backed by influential politicians, the petition filed by Pakal with the NHRC maintained. The victim's family was forced to sign blank papers and was threatened of dire consequences if they insist on coercive police action against the accused persons. 'The allegations made in the complaint prima facie seem to be serious violations of the human rights of the victim. The Bench of the National Human Rights Commission, presided by Priyank Kanoongo, Member, has taken cognizance u/s 12 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, in the matter. The Registry is directed to issue a notice to the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, Jajpur with directions to get the allegations made in the complaint inquired into and to submit an Action Taken Report within 4 weeks for perusal of the Commission', the top rights panel stated in an order. UNI XC RKM
United News of India
7 hours ago
- United News of India
Stampede at Ausaneshwar Mahadev Temple leaves two dead, 29 injured
Barabanki, July 28 (UNI) A tragic incident occurred at the Ausaneshwar Mahadev Temple in Barabanki during the third Monday of the holy month of Shrawan, when a stampede broke out in the temple premises, leading to the death of two devotees. A total of 29 other devotees, including women and children were also injured in the mishap. The stampede took place around 2 am during the Jalabhishek ritual. According to initial reports, the chaos was triggered after an electric current spread through the temple premises. Authorities stated that the electric wires snapped and fell onto a tin shed inside the temple complex after some monkeys jumped on them, causing a short circuit. As panic spread among the devotees due to the electric shock and the resulting commotion, a stampede broke out. Upon receiving information about the incident, a large police force was deployed to the site. The injured were immediately rushed to Haidergarh and Trivediganj Community Health Centres via ambulances. Those critically injured were referred to the district hospital. District Magistrate Shashank Tripathi and Superintendent of Police Arpit Vijayvargiya, along with other senior officials, reached the spot to assess the situation. The DM confirmed the cause of the incident, stating that the broken electric wire had come into contact with the tin shed, leading to the current spread and subsequent chaos. Among the deceased is Prashant (22), a resident of Mubarakpura, who died during treatment at the Trivediganj CHC. Another unidentified devotee also succumbed to injuries. Ten injured persons were brought to the CHC, out of which five in critical condition were referred for advanced treatment. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the stampede ensued after rumors of electric current spread among the crowd, causing devotees to panic and rush for safety. Authorities have since brought the situation under control, and two hours after the incident, the temple resumed normalcy, with devotees continuing to offer prayers and perform Jalabhishek in queues. An investigation into the incident is underway, and officials have assured further safety measures to prevent such tragedies in the future. UNI PRI RKM
