Bombay HC upholds life term to self-proclaimed tantrik convicted of raping six minor girls

The bench added that the mothers of the victim girls were also financially exploited by the appellant, a baba/tantric, who had assured them that he would treat their daughters so that they do not beget intellectually challenged male children.

As per city police’s 2010 FIR, the accused had taken nearly Rs 1.30 crore from the girls’ parents under the garb of curing them. The sessions court in April 2016 convicted the man and sentenced him to life imprisonment, which he challenged before the High Court.

The court observed, “The appellant took full advantage of the apprehension of the victims’ mothers and by manipulating their fears, assured to cure the girls and in the process, also financially exploited them. The six victim girls all came from good families, and were economically well off and yet because of the fear of their mothers became victims of the appellant.”

Justice Mohite-Dere stated, “It is an unfortunate reality of our times, that people, at times knock on the doors of so called tantriks/babas, for a solution to their problems and that these so called tantriks/babas, take advantage of the vulnerability and blind faith of these people and exploit them. The so-called tantriks/babas not only exploit their vulnerability, by extracting money from them, but also many a times, sexually assault the victims, under the guise of providing solutions. This is one such bizarre case of blind faith.”

The HC also added that it was “not a case where sentence should be reduced to undergone.” It went on to hold, “The facts are gross, and as such the sentence must be commensurate with the acts committed.”