Bengaluru, April 2 (IANS) Karnataka High Court has quashed rape case filed against revered Hindu seer Sreemad Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamy of Shree Ramachandrapura Math, Gokarna, citing that there is no explanation for the nine-year delay in reporting the alleged incident.
The bench headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order in this regard. The Raghavendra Bharati Swamy filed a plea before the High Court in 2021, challenging the proceedings against him by a trial court and sought quashing of the entire proceedings of the case.
A former disciple had made allegations against the seer of raping her twice, first when she was 15 years of age in 2006 and second time in 2012, while she was a major.
The judgment stated that the proceedings pending before the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM), Bengaluru, concerning the charge sheet and all other proceedings thereto stand quashed.
The judgment also stated that there is no satisfactory explanation for the delay of nine years in registering the complaint. Whether the delay in cases of offences punishable under Section 376 (rape) of the IPC would cut at the root of the matter and vitiate the entire proceedings is necessary to be noticed.
It further read: “The entire proceeding against the petitioner stands vitiated. Permitting further trial, in the case at hand, would undoubtedly become an abuse of the process of the law and result in miscarriage of justice. I therefore deem it appropriate to exercise my jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Cr PC and take off the Damocles sword, hanging on the head of the petitioner (Swamiji).”
The judgment further stated that the cognizance taken by the learned Magistrate on the final report and issuance of process suffers from non-application of mind.
The judgment noted that the charge sheet in this case was filed by an officer attached to the special wing Criminal Investigation Department (CID) before the institution was declared a ‘police station’ by the government of Karnataka in 2024.
“The officer in-charge in the office of the CID cannot be an officer in-charge of a police station, without at the outset the office of the CID being declared as a police station,” the court stated.
The court further maintained that in this backdrop, the CID, in this case, was not empowered to file the chargesheet.
In her complaint, the complainant alleged that her parents are poor farmers and that she studied at the residential school run by the mutt.
She stated that whenever she went to see the swamiji with friends during special occasions, he spoke to her lovingly and caringly.
“While she was in class 10, the swamiji allegedly invited her to his private room and told her that he had called her there based on inspiration from Lord Ram. The swamiji claimed that she had some deficiencies that he would correct. According to the complainant, He pulled me onto the peeth where he was sitting and made me sit on his lap. He asked me not to resist and sexually assaulted me. He warned me that if I told anyone, I would be cursed,” the complainant said.
She further alleged, “Later, the swamiji arranged her marriage with one of the devotees of the mutt. Soon after, their marriage faced problems. When she went to him and questioned his decision to marry her off to someone she didn’t like, the swamiji raped her and told her to meet him whenever he wanted.”
–IANS
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