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RELIGION: SEX SCANDAL

Holy Seduction

Ignored by the police a singer moves court against a yoga guru for sexual harassment

In a state where there is no shortage of gurus, both real and fake, his was perhaps the best-known face. The list of people who have taken lessons in yoga from him include the biggest names from Gujarat's political, bureaucratic and business world. Even commoners recognise him on the streets because thousands have taken preliminary yoga lessons by watching his yoga programme on DD's Gujarati channel.

But last week, Swami Adhyatmanand was in the news for all the wrong reasons. A Surat-based classical singer, 24-year-old Pankaj Singh, lodged a complaint with the local police, accusing the swami of trying to seduce him. Few believed him initially. But people began to sit up and take note when Pankaj approached the Surat lower court to get a directive issued to the Surat police. He alleged the police weren't acting on his complaint due to pressure from the powerfully-connected swami. Simultaneously, a book detailing the swami's alleged homosexual tendencies began circulating in the market.

According to Singh, on June 5 a follower of Adhyatmanand approached his music teacher with a request to perform the same evening at a function in Surat where the swami was to deliver a discourse on the Gita. The teacher excused himself saying he was already tied up for the evening but offered to send his disciple. After the function ended at around 8 p.m. the swami invited Singh for dinner. But the singer declined. The next evening, the invitation came again. This time Singh accepted it. After dinner, the swami allegedly took Singh to his room in the residence of his local host. According to Singh, the swami sat close to him on the sofa and then started caressing him. He continued even when Singh objected. After a while the swami began talking about sex and then started disrobing himself. Says Singh: "Twice I tried to leave the room but the swami prevented me by holding my hand. So I decided I had to find out how far he would go. He sat naked in front of me and carried on with his sex talk. But when he finally tried to get me into the act, I told him I wasn't interested."

The swami, however, has a different tale to tell. While admitting that Singh had come to his room, the swami claims "it was only to learn Omkar". Says the swami: "Why is he making such a charge against me? I only taught him how to sing Omkar."

Once the scandal surfaced, details of the swami's alleged peccadilloes in the past began pouring in. In Katu-Satya, a book published in 1995, the swami's gurubhai (fellow student), Swami Asheshanand, had alleged that Adhyatmanand once tried to seduce one of his followers. Also, a respected social worker based in Bhavnagar, Nanak Bhatt, said two youths had complained to him back in 1983-84 that the swami had tried to seduce them. Babubhai Desai, who heads Satya Shodhak, an organisation that works for the eradication of blind faith in Surat, says, "The episode is a blot on the guru-shishya (teacher-disciple) relationship." Desai's appeal to others who have had similar experiences has seen at least two persons responding-though unlike Singh they don't want to go public.

Singh says the police is protecting the powerful swami. Though a simple non-cognisable offence charge under Section 323 of the IPC has been filed against him, Singh claims the police should have actually charged him under Section 511, for trying to commit an unnatural act. Says Singh: "I can easily prove my charges against the swami. I can accurately describe the marks on his body and even his private parts which I saw after he disrobed." It's the kind of evidence Singh hopes will at least stand in court.

--Uday Mahurkar

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