Vizag court rejects bail to Seer Poornananda accused of raping minors
The court ruled against granting bail to the preacher, citing that there was strong evidence against him. The forensic report also established that the two victims were sexually assaulted
By Newsmeter Network Published on 25 July 2023 10:53 AM GMT
Visakhapatnam: A special POCSO Court in Visakhapatnam rejected the bail petition of the Seer Poornananda Saraswathi, who was arrested in June this year on the charges of sexually assaulting two minor girls in his ashram for over a year.
Seer Poornananda Saraswathi, the administrator of Gnanananda Ashram in the Venkojipalem area, was arrested on June 20, on charges of torturing and raping a 15-year-old girl in his ashram. A team of doctors at King George Hospital conducted a potency test on the accused seer a week ago.
A total of 12 children ā four girls and eight boysāwere put up in the Gnanananda Ashram in Visakhapatnam. The ashram opened in 1955 and houses an orphanage and an old-age home.
A case has been registered against the preacher under Sections 323, 342, 376 (2) f, 376 (3) of IPC and Section 6 of the POCSO Act.
After his arrest, many horrifying details of the crime were found by the team led by Disha ACP Ch Vivekananda. āOther girls in the ashram are younger than the victim. When we spoke to them, one girl said that she faced a similar situation with the seer molesting her,ā said Vivekananda speaking to NewsMeter at the time of the seerās arrest.
With around 5-6 workers living in the ashram, the seer used to call the victim and another girl to his room at night and sexually abuse them. The victim managed to escape from the ashram and board a train to Vijayawada. She narrated her escape to a woman passenger, who got her in touch with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), where she revealed the ordeal she went through at the ashram.
To avoid suspicion, the seer had lodged a missing complaint on June 15 at MVP Colony police station. The victim was admitted to a hospital, underwent a few tests and was sent to Visakhapatnam. She was given shelter at a government home for girls.
Strong evidence against seer
On Monday, the court ruled against granting bail to the preacher, citing that there was strong evidence against him. The victim identified the accused during the test identification parade held in the first week of July. The forensic report also established that the two victims were sexually assaulted.
However, the accused claimed that the allegations and cases against him were a conspiracy to grab the valuable land of the ashram.
The CWC team also found that the ashram did not have permission to run an orphanage. They also said that the ashram is in bad shape and people are living in unhygienic conditions. The children were not given adequate food and water for bathing at the ashram.
Earlier in October 2012, the same seer was arrested for raping a 13-year-old girl in the ashram. The victim managed to escape and went home. Upon inquiry, the minor girl narrated that she was sexually abused by the seer.
Around 14 persons were examined as witnesses in the 2012-rape case at the Mahila Court and VI-ADJ court in Visakhapatnam. The case is still pending in the court.
