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| 12 years old was Kripalu Maharaji's preferred age to rape girls. (Photo shared for educational purposes.) |
My experience with child sex abuse in India is that Indian girls and women tend not to speak out. The main reason I have been told is shame, not only for themselves but also for their families. If a female is shamed in India, it’s highly likely that she will be blamed and no one will marry her.
This is a very sad state of affairs. I wish that India could have a me-too movement like the U.S. did over the past several years.
However, it’s also not easy in the U.S. for many women and girls to speak out. They are often not believed and called liars, or they are slut shamed making them out to be the ones who causes the sex abuse, or they are called crazy and therefore undependable.
But when women in the U.S. launched a me-too movement, it gave a lot of women more confidence to speak out — and that helped expose many sex abusers and rapists.
This is not to say that all the women and girls in the U.S. speak out about their abuse. The photo above is of a little girl in the U.S. and her grandmother. The grandmother put her in the position of being sexually abused by Kripalu Maharaji at about 12 years old when he came with his entourage to the U.S. in 2004/2007. During his 2007 trip, the girl was his favorite person in the whole ashram for the duration of his stay.
The Three Greedy Didis stayed in close contact with her throughout the years. Perhaps it was to help keep her quiet about what happened to her, but also to lure her into the organization when she reached 18 years old. However, that girl's life took a different turn. She got a higher education and got married.
Yet, she has never spoken out about her abuse in JKP. If I had to guess I would say it’s also because she is trying to protect her grandmother. Also her mother, who got on the witness stand at the criminal trial for child sex abuse case of Swami Prakashanand Saraswati. She gave a testimony to try and help the guru get off of his crimes. However, she was a useless witness, like all of his so-called witnesses were. For one thing, they all lied by omission or commission.
Regarding the girl, another reason she may not be speaking out about her abuse by Kripalu is based on something I recently was told by a reliable insider. Allegedly, this girl not only had sexual relations with Kripalu, but also with one of his three main grandsons. Apparently, she had a huge crush on the boy, who would have been in his late 20s or early 30s at the time.
What’s more, allegedly someone took photos of the encounter. If this abuse happened, and if there are photos, is she being threatened? Is she being told that the photos will become public if she ever dares to speak out — or it's perhaps implied? I do not know the answers. But I do know if this girl ever got the nerve to do the right thing and tell about her experiences in this organization, she might be able to expose the whole sham.
However, I wish that more Indian girl victims of Kripalu would speak out. I wish they could gather their inner warrior to tell what really happened to them behind closed doors. I understand why they don’t. But I wish they could rise above the cultural imperative to protect male sex abusers and tell the truth.
They could even do it anonymously. This is something that occurred recently in the U.S. Five females from a cult were sexually abused. All five spoke out anonymously. As a result, the sex abuser was tried and convicted.
Yes, I know that Kripalu Maharaji is dead now. But his legacy lives on — the organization is fooling
people, including young people, into thinking it's a pure spiritual organization, when
it’s anything but that. It was and is an abusive organization that ruins people's lives. You will never get spiritual enlightenment in JKP — it's a world of darkness. You'll ruin another one of your lives on earth.
Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat has benefited for too long from
the fact that the abused girls and women will not speak out. Isn't it time?
