Chargesheet Filed Against ‘Godman’ Daati Maharaj in Rape Case

A 25-year-old woman alleged that she was raped by the self-styled godman and two of his disciples many times.

Photo of Daati Maharaj, used for representational purpose. 

(Photo: ANI)

The Delhi police on Monday, 1 October, filed a chargesheet against self-styled godman Daati Maharaj, and three of his brothers, in a rape case where the complainant is one of his woman disciples, a senior police officer said.

The chargesheet was filed in the Saket Court under sections 376 (punishment for rape, with a maximum term of seven years) and 377 (unnatural offences) of the IPC, he added.

Meanwhile, Chairperson of Delhi Commission For Women Swati Maliwal demanded to know why the police had not arrested the godman.

A 25-year-old woman filed a complaint against Daati Maharaj, a self-styled godman, at the Fatehpur Beri police station in south Delhi on 10 June accusing him and his disciples of raping her on several occasions. The case was transferred from the district police to the Crime Branch on 12 June, they added.

Backdrop

The woman told the police that she was a disciple of the self-styled godman for a decade, but after she was raped by him and two of his disciples, she returned to her native place in Rajasthan.

She also alleged that a female disciple of the godman would force her into his room and if she refused, would tell her that other disciples too slept with him, the police said.

The woman also alleged that she was sexually abused in the ashrams of the godman in Delhi and Rajasthan and named two male disciples of Daati Maharaj. She fled from one of the ashrams two years ago. She narrated her ordeal to her parents, who approached the police and a case was registered.

Delhi Commission for Women Taking Cognisance

After the Crime Branch took over the case, DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal had met the woman and said she should be given police protection.

In a tweet Maliwal wrote:

The DCW had also drafted a letter to the Fatehpur Beri Police, urging them to provide protection to the survivour and provide an action taken report to the Commission in the matter latest by 15 June.

(Photo: The Quint)