Supreme court had ordered stay against potency test of controversial godman
A file picture of self-styled godman Nithyananda
Bengaluru: Controversial godman Nithyananda was produced before the Ramanagara court on Monday. He was given conditional bail after an arrest warrant was issued against him recently. As the public prosecutor was on leave in Ramanagara, a special public prosecutor appeared before the court. The Supreme Court has ordered a stay against potency tests for Nithyananda. As the case is again coming up for hearing before the apex court on Wednesday, the Ramanagara court adjourned its case to August 23.
Nithyananda was issued a nonbailable warrant by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court (CJMC), Ramnagara when he failed to attend the hearing on July 28. He had approached the Supreme Court and obtained a stay against potency tests. When Nithyananda had appealed to the High Court stating that he was not potent to commit sexual crimes, the court had upheld that he undergo a potency test to prove his claims.
The sexual abuse complaint was registered against Nithyananda in 2012 when an NRI alleged that she was repeatedly raped during her five-year stay at Nithyananda’s ashram in Bidadi and was threatened with dire consequences if she complained to anyone. The then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda ordered the arrest of Nithyananda in June 2012 after several of his followers appeared on Kannada TV news channels and accused the godman of exploiting them sexually. Cases of rape and unnatural sex were registered against Nithyananda and five others in the Bidadi police station.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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