Representative image showing the word 'suspended'.
Credit: iStock Photo
Lucknow: A seer from Juna Akhara was expelled after he baptised a 13-year-old girl in Maha Kumbh without following the rules governing the process of baptising a minor.
The girl, who was given a new name -- Gouri Giri -- after being baptised, was also expelled from the Akhara.
The parents of the girl Rakhee Singh had said a few days back that the latter had been baptised as a ‘sadhvi’ in the Juna Akhara by Kaushal Giri, a seer from the Akhara. ‘’She expressed her desire to renounce the materialistic world and therefore her parents decided to donate her to Juna Akhara...there was no pressure on them,’’ Kaushal Giri claimed.
The decision to expel the seer and the ‘sadhvi’ came after a video in which the girl was heard purportedly saying that she wanted to become an IAS officer but now she would have to live like an ascetic, went viral on social media.
Juna Akhara, which was the biggest of the 13 Akharas, spokesman Narayan Giri said that according to the rules the women, who were less than 25 years of age, could not be allowed to join the Akhara.
He said that there were rules governing the entry of minors in the Akhara. ‘’In this case the rules were not followed and therefore we have decided to expel Kaushal Giri for a period of seven years,’’ he added.
Narayan Giri said that the girl had been handed over to her parents.
Another seer associated with Juna Akhara said that whenever a woman was baptised, she was only considered to be a permanent member of the Akhara after six months.