Woman alleges torture for refusing to be intimate with godman Sarathi Baba

Kendrapara (Odisha), Aug 19: A newly-married woman has alleged that she was being tortured by her husband as she denied to get 'close' to self-styled godman Sarathi Baba alias Santosh Roul, who is currently in jail in connection with his alleged sexual escapades.

In her FIR at the Nikirai police station in Odisha's Kendrapara district, the woman stated that on the fourth day of their marriage in January this year, her husband took her to Barimula Ashram to get the blessings of Sarathi.

"When we visited him, the Baba gave me a saree and sankhas (bangles). After that my husband went outside leaving me alone inside the room. My husband asked me to stay there for some time.

I felt a little awkward when the Baba's associates insisted that I must go inside his chamber to get his blessings," the woman told the media after recording her statement before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate here.

"Though I denied to take blessings of the Baba, my husband forced me to go into the godman's chamber and seek his blessings. But I protested and returned home," she said. The woman alleged that her husband had been torturing her since the incident in January.

She too alleged that her in-laws were also assisting her husband in the matter. "Though I had made a written complaint in this regard earlier, it was not accepted," she alleged. Roul is already in a soup for taking a woman to a hotel in Hyderabad.

PTI