Varanasi/Prayagraj: Booked for sexually abusing two persons, Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati said on Thursday that he has filed a case against the accuser, Ashutosh Brahmachari, under the POCSO Act, claiming the law allows legal action against those who file false cases. The spiritual leader has already moved the Allahabad High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the case registered against him. The plea will be heard on Friday.
The FIR against Avimukteshwaranand and his disciple Mukundanand Brahmachari was lodged at the Jhunsi police station over allegations of sexual abuse of two persons, including a minor, over the past year.
The complainants include Ashutosh Brahmachari Maharaj and two other persons — one of them a minor — who alleged sexual abuse by the accused at a gurukul and during religious congregations, including the recently concluded Magh Mela in Prayagraj. ACP (Jhunsi) Vimal Kishore Mishra told PTI that medical examinations of the alleged victims have been conducted and the reports have been handed over to the investigating officer in a sealed envelope. He, whoever, declined to comment on the contents of the medical reports. According to officials, the FIR has been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and relevant sections of the BNS. Two to three unidentified persons
have also been named in the complaint, besides Avimukteshwaranand and Mukundanand Brahmachari.