Sexual exploitation of kids in Shukartal ashram: POCSO court cross-examine victim

A Muzaffarnagar court on Tuesday completed the cross-examination of a victim of alleged sexual exploitation by a self-styled godman in his ashram at Shukartal area in the district.

After the completing the cross-examination of the child victim, who had broken down on the last hearing, the special court trying the offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act slated the next hearing in the case on October 12.

Special POCSO Court judge Sanjive Kumar Tiwari slated October 12 for the cross-examination of another victim, said prosecution counsel Dinesh Kumar Sharma.

The Muzaffarnagar police had in July this year rescued ten children, aged between seven and 10 years, from the Shukartal ashram in Bhopa police station area in the district, run by a self-styled godman Swami Bhakti Bhushan Govind Maharaj and his aide Krishan Mohan.

All the children belong to different north eastern states, including Tripura, Mizoram and Assam. Following medical examinations, four of the children were confirmed to have been sexually exploited. The police had also arrested the duo after registering them under IPC sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 377 (unnatural offences), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and sections 5/6 of the POCSO Act.