Close X
Saturday, November 16, 2024
ADVT 
International

Children drugged, tortured at Indian ashram in Australia

Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Dec, 2014 10:20 AM
  • Children drugged, tortured at Indian ashram in Australia
A public hearing here has revealed shocking details of cases of sex abuse in Australia by an Indian yoga guru, who died around 17 years ago, media reported Wednesday.
 
Children living at the ashram were starved, tortured and drugged, according to the evidence presented at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
 
"I was forced to expose my genitals to ashram members and drugged with morphine for minor ailments," said a former child resident, given the pseudonym APK.
 
"Children as young as four were tortured at the ashram," she said.
 
APK moved to the ashram with her family when she was aged nine in 1978.
 
Her older sister, given the pseudonym APL, told the commission that sexual activity was banned at the ashram and those who disobeyed were punished by its leader, Swami Akhandananda Saraswati.
 
Children went on what they called "f*** patrol" across the ashram's grounds at Mangrove Mountain on the central coast to see if any adults were being intimate.
 
"If Akhandananda found out that any of the swamis were guilty he would publicly shame them and sometimes beat them," she said.
 
The commission heard that Akhandananda, who established the ashram in 1974, was a serial sex abuser who forced child residents into depraved acts for his own gratification.
 
Many such cases were reported from the Satyananda Yoga Ashram located on Mangrove Mountain, New South Wales, in the 1970s and 1980s.
 
Satyananda Yoga Ashram, which changed its name to Mangrove Yoga Ashram in 2012, and Swami Akhandananda Saraswati were later charged with over 35 sex offences against four teenaged girls.
 
Akhandananda was found guilty on lesser charges of indecency and was jailed in 1989 but his conviction was overturned six years before his death in 1997.
 
Eleven of the victims have contacted the commission and nine will give evidence during the two-week hearing.

MORE International ARTICLES

Cleric asks supporters to lay siege to Pakistani parliament

Cleric asks supporters to lay siege to Pakistani parliament
A religious leader leading anti-government protesters in Pakistan's capital city Wednesday ordered them to lay siege to parliament, even as he called for...

Cleric asks supporters to lay siege to Pakistani parliament

111-year-old Japanese retired educator who enjoys poetry recognized as the world's oldest man

111-year-old Japanese retired educator who enjoys poetry recognized as the world's oldest man
TOKYO - A 111-year-old retired Japanese educator who enjoys poetry has been recognized as the world's oldest living man....

111-year-old Japanese retired educator who enjoys poetry recognized as the world's oldest man

Latest wildfire near Yosemite calms after early scares, some evacuees start to return

Latest wildfire near Yosemite calms after early scares, some evacuees start to return
OAKHURST, Calif. - A wildfire that gave a scare to a community near Yosemite National Park after whose early surges has been tamed by firefighters, and some...

Latest wildfire near Yosemite calms after early scares, some evacuees start to return

Flooding forces dramatic rescues in Phoenix area after heavy rains pummel state, close roads

Flooding forces dramatic rescues in Phoenix area after heavy rains pummel state, close roads
PHOENIX - Workers at a farm saw hundreds of cactuses sweep away in a flood. Drivers on Arizona's main north-south freeway watched in shock as muddy waters...

Flooding forces dramatic rescues in Phoenix area after heavy rains pummel state, close roads

Pakistan PM refuses to resign

Pakistan PM refuses to resign
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided not to succumb to pressure exerted by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek...

Pakistan PM refuses to resign

US to continue targeted air strikes in Iraq

US to continue targeted air strikes in Iraq
US military will continue air strikes against forces of Islamic State and humanitarian efforts for Iraqi civilians, Pentagon said Tuesday...

US to continue targeted air strikes in Iraq