In what is considered to be a bold move, a young woman in Kerala tried to chop off the penis of a Swami, which according to her, was an act of self-defence.
The parents of a 23-year-old woman were followers of a swami from an ashram at Padmana in Kollam, Kerala. On Friday night, she called the Thiruvananthapuram police control room and informed them that she had cut off sexual organs of a 54-year-old Swami after he allegedly tried to rape her.
The alleged rapist, Hari alias Ganeshananda Theerthapada Swami, was admitted to the Medical College hospital in Thiruvananthapuram in a critical condition in the early hours of Saturday, around 12.30am. The incident is reported to have happened at 11.30 pm on Friday night, according to the police. The police also said that according to the girl, the man has been assaulting her since she was in high school.
The Circle inspector of Pettai station in Thiruvananthapuram said, “She knew that no one would believe her if she said she had been sexually assaulted by a man of god. So, this was perhaps the only thing she could think of.” The woman has been taken to a women’s shelter run by the government.
In a press conference, the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College said that the swami was now out of danger. “A 54-year-old man from Kollam was admitted at 12.39 am to the hospital on Saturday. His penis had been cut (90%) and was hanging precariously. There was no way it could be stitched back. Plastic surgeons who are urology experts in the hospital did emergency surgery to stop the blood loss and to enable him to pass urine.”
The hospital also said that his condition was now stable. According to the police, the Swami used to visit the girl’s home at Kannamula in Thiruvananthapuram to pray for her ailing father. The girl says that the man used to repeatedly assault her at her home. She also told the police that her mother knew of this. Knowing of his next arrival, she had kept the knife ready to chop off his genitals.
According to Pettai police, a case has been filed against the man under IPC section 376 (rape) and under sections of POCSO. “Case had been filed under POCSO as the assault and rape seem to have started when she was a minor,” said the police.
