Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Wednesday directed the West Bengal government not to take any immediate action against 2025 Padma Shri awardee monk, Swami Pradiptananda, against whom the Murshidabad district police had filed a first information report (FIR) last week after a local woman accused him of rape, lawyers who were present in court said.
The court also accepted the monk’s request for an in-camera hearing, which is scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Swami Pradiptananda, popularly known as Kartik Maharaj, is head of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha’s Beldanga ashram in Murshidabad. Skipping a police summon for interrogation he moved the court on Tuesday, seeking quashing of the FIR.
“The bench of justice Jay Sengupta heard Kartik Maharaj’s petition on Wednesday and directed the government not to take any immediate action on the basis of the FIR and wait for the hearing instead,” lawyer Koustav Bagchi, who represented the monk, told HT.
Lawyer Sandipan Ganguly, who represented the alleged rape survivor, objected to the appeal for in-camera hearing, saying monks who faced similar charges in the past were tried in open court. Ganguly cited the example of Gujarat’s Asaram Bapu.
“Reacting to this, the bench expressed surprise on why the Murshidabad woman did not file any complaint in 13 years,” Bagchi said.
The woman has alleged in her complaint lodged at the Lalbagh police station that Swami Pradiptananda raped her repeatedly between 2012 and 2019 by promising her a job. She has alleged that she was forced to undergo an abortion in 2013.
The woman has also claimed to have talked to the monk over the phone on June 12 and alleged that two men sent by him threatened her the following day.
The monk has shared dais with Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bengal leaders such as Suvendu Adhikari several times in recent months. In May 2024, chief minister Mamata Banerjee publicly accused him of helping the BJP in the then ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The monk sent a legal notice to Banerjee, demanding an unconditional apology, but she stuck to her allegations.
The ruling Trinamool Congress unleashed a fresh attack on the monk after he moved the high court.
Bengal BJP leaders have alleged that the TMC was trying to frame Kartik Maharaj with trumped up charges.
