Keeping up with UP | Is it time to rein in self-styled godmen?
They thrive on spreading superstition maligning the basic concept of religious discourses
The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered separate probes into the stampede at a religious gathering of self-styled godman Suraj Pal Jatav alias Bhole Baba in Uttar Prdesh's Hathras that left 121 people dead on July 2. The stampede put under the spotlight administrative lapses and self-styled godmen claiming healing powers to end physical and mental miseries as well as exploitation of the poor and the vulnerable, especially young women. The number of these godmen has been growing in the rural areas as they often go unnoticed until incidents such as the Hathas stampede hit the headlines.
Bhole Baba's rise has mirrored other such self-styled godmen. A former constable, the Baba has established 25 ashrams across the country in as many years even as he took voluntary retirement and is ostensibly living off a pension.
Officials point out that these babas often flout laws and regulations. Their ashrams or abodes, for instance, are mostly constructed without the approval of or no-objection certificates from the local authorities.
High court lawyer Bulbul Godiyal said that the Constitution's Article 26 allows people to manage their religious and charitable affairs, subject to public order, morality, and health. She added they thus have the right to administer places such as ashrams. "Anyone can become a self-styled baba in India and there is no law to check them. But they have to get their ashrams registered," said Godiyal. She called for enacting strict laws to mandate a check on self-styled godmen.
The authorities usually do not have data about such godmen or keep a tab on their activities, which often go on in the name of religious discourses and healing.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Alok Ranjan called for a database through an audit without interfering in their religious activities to help prevent incidents such as the Hathras stampede as well as exploitation.
Former state police chief Prakash Singh said a countrywide drive could be launched to check the credentials of self-styled godmen irrespective of their faith without introducing any new law to regulate their activities or expansion. He added the rule of law must be enforced without any concessions whenever issues of encroachment, money laundering, or criminal assault involving self-styled godmen surface.
There have also been calls for cracking down on the false promises of magic. Spreading superstition is an offence under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act (1954). The advertisement of drugs and remedies claiming magical properties is a cognisable offence. Even those self-styled godmen advertising cures for ailments by a shoe hit on the head have gotten scot-free.
Self-styled godmen often get away with illegal activities by usually operating in economically impoverished areas, where women bear the brunt of alcoholism, domestic violence, sexual abuse, poverty, and related health issues and fall prey to them.
Vikram Singh, another former Uttar Pradesh police chief, said nothing is a more lucrative business than babas with a large following. "Some form trusts to operate them and preach also. Then there are private babas like Bhola who claim they do not take donations from devotees,” said Vikram Singh.
On allegations of raising private armies, Vkram Singh said they could and should be booked for impersonation. “Anyone wearing khaki or fatigues can be punished severely. Also, the babas could be prosecuted under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act as they operate illegitimate gangs,” he said.
Former police officer and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajya Sabha member Brij Lal echoed Vikram Singh on the need to check private armies from wearing khaki and olive green or else punish them for impersonation. He said that police can enter any religious place for simple queries.
A top officer said that setting up an educational institution, or a hospital needs clearances and why should not the same apply to ashrams?
The Supreme Court in 2021 refused to act on a petition seeking action against fake babas in the country, saying if such self-styled godmen have been convicted in criminal cases that is sufficient reason for people to avoid going to them.
Secunderabad resident Dumpala Ramreddy filed the petition over his daughter's alleged confinement at an ashram run by a self-styled godman in Delhi. The petitioner stumbled upon a list of fake ashrams during efforts to rescue his daughter from the ashram. Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, an apex body of sages, released the list of 17 fake godmen and their institutions. The impunity, as the Hathras stampede underscored, has, however, continued.
Sunita Aron is a consulting editor with the HT based in Lucknow. You can find her on X as @overto. The weekly column, Keeping up with UP tackles everything from politics to social and cultural mores in the country's most populous state. The views expressed are personal.
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