Rescued girl from Nithyananda ashram alleges she was tortured

Ahmedabad: One of the daughters of a Bengaluru resident, Janardhan Sharma, recounted that she underwent mental torture in an ashram, allegedly belonging to Nithyananda.

The 15-year-old girl was rescued when her parents got her out of the ashram a month ago with the help of the child welfare committee.

“I joined Gurukul in 2013 in May. Earlier we used to do fun activities but since 2017 there has been corruption. We had to do promotional activities for Swamiji and raise donations not in thousands but in lakhs. Donations were starting from Rs 3 lakh up to 8 crore. Either we had to get donations or land in acres,” the girl told ANI.

“In the middle of the night, they used to wake us up and make a video for Swamiji. We had to wear heavy jewellery and heavy makeup. My elder sister is not able to get out of there. I was a witness that all the videos done by my sister were directly instructed by Swamiji. They also asked her to talk about our father and mother in a bad way. They even asked me to do so but I refused,” she added.

She further said that the ashram administration locked her up in a room for two months in the name of some spiritual process. The people in the ashram also used abusive language, she added.

The girl’s father had approached the Gujarat High Court alleging that her daughter was kept captive in Ahmedabad.

 “The case is moving in the right direction. Arrests have been made of two persons in the case. I have complained about getting my girl back, but they are engaged in other nefarious activities as well,” said Janardhan Sharma.