The Kerala woman who had chopped off the genitals of a godman who she had accused of molesting her for six years has now gone back on her word, claiming that the priest — who is associated with a Hindu religious Mutt — never raped her.
The 23-year-old woman, who had bobbitised the godman named Gangeshananda Theerthapada alias Hariswamy, had been praised by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for the act.
This, even as the man told the police he had chopped off his own genitals because he did not require them.
The original version of things
According to local reports, Hariswamy had been a "family friend" of the girl for several years, after befriending her mother. The woman's father had been rendered bedridden by disease, and Hariswamy reportedly exploited his friendship with the her mother to visit their house on the pretext of performing religious ceremonies.
It was during these visits that he used to molest the woman, she had alleged after the incident. The assaults went back to as long as six years ago, when she was a high-school student of 17, she had told the police back then.
The current version
Now, in a letter written to Hariswamy's lawyer, the woman has reportedly denied that the godman raped her, contrary to what she had claimed earlier. She has also said in the letter that the cops added certain portions to her statement that she never told them.
"There has been no form of sexual harassment by the swamiji towards me. Neither when I was a minor or when I turned 18. The accusation of swamiji sexually harassing me at 16 and 17 years is false and an addition made among the other additions by police people," she has written in the letter.
The woman has also confirmed to NDTV that the letter was indeed from her. This may help rule out the possibility that she was coerced into writing it.
