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Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea against fake godmen
The petition styled as a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by a Secunderabad resident Dumpala Ramreddy who was upset over his daughter being kept in an ashram run by a self-styled godman based in Delhi.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to act on a petition seeking action against fake babas in the country and said that if such self-styled godmen have already been convicted in criminal cases, that is sufficient reason for people to avoid going to them.
The petition styled as a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed by a Secunderabad resident Dumpala Ramreddy who was upset over his daughter being kept in an ashram run by a self-styled godman based in Delhi. During efforts to rescue her from the ashram named Adhyatmika Vidyalaya run by one Veerendra Dev Dixit in Rohini, the petitioner stumbled upon a list of fake ashrams released by the apex body of sages – Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad.
This list contained names of 17 fake godmen and their institutions which included the likes of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Dera Sacha Sauda, Radhey Ma, Nirmal Baba, Rampal, Asaram Bapu and his son Narayan Sai. The list also included the name of Dixit, with whom the petitioner was concerned.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy who represented the petitioner informed the Court that it should direct the Centre to verify the details of the list supplied by Akhada Parishad and order closure of the ashrams run by these fake godmen.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) AS Bobde said, “We are not disrespecting the Akhara Parishad. But how does the Court get to know who is a fake baba. This list is prepared by the Akhada on its own. We don’t know whether they have some animus with these persons.”
Guruswamy told the Court to consider the fact that criminal cases have been filed against most of these persons named in the list. In some cases, the Central Bureau of Investigation is probing serious charges of misappropriation of funds, crimes of rape and murder.
“This gives all the more reason that people should not go to them. Why do you want the Supreme Court’s imprimatur on them,” observed the bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
As a last resort, the Court allowed the petition to be converted into a representation to the authorities in the Central government. “If the Union government thinks your problem is genuine, they will act on your representation,” noted the bench.
On July 8 last year, the petition first came up for hearing before the Court when the bench agreed to consider it and allowed a copy of the petition to be supplied to the Solicitor General. On Wednesday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared in the case and opposed the petition. Mehta said, “The petitioner has already filed a petition of habeas corpus to rescue his daughter before the Delhi High Court. Their concern can be addressed there. We are opposing the prayer made in this petition.”
Guruswamy requested to withdraw the petition which the bench accepted. In addition to verifying details about fake babas named by Akhada Parishad, the petition made several prayers which included vacating the ashrams run by these self-styled godmen and closing down ashrams other than those in the list where it is found that the people running them have criminal records. The petition also urged the Court to frame guidelines with regard to setting up of Ashrams and spiritual centres across the country.
