Akhara Parishad to keep an eye on seers going abroad

ALLAHABAD: Days after a Bade Hanuman temple seer was arrested in Australia following a complaint by two women for allegedly sexually assaulting them, Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad (ABAP) will now keep a tab on its member saints’ international visits.
ABAP will form a 20-member committee to keep a check on activities of seers associated with the apex body of akharas.
ABAP is the apex body of monastic orders and has 13 akharas as its members.
While half of the members of the panel would be Indian seers, the remaining would be those associated with ABAP but are settled abroad.
The committee would be formed during the Kumbh Mela to be organised in Haridwar in 2021.
The member seers would have to inform the panel about their international visits and also include information like name and address of the disciples/organisation who have invited the seer and their itinerary.
“Once the parishad is satisfied with the details provided by a seer, it can back its members in case they are wrongly charged in a case. ABAP will take the necessary steps to protect the seers’ interests,” said ABAP general secretary and and chief patron of the Juna Akhara, Mahant Hari Giri.
Associated with Niranjani Akhara, 38-year-old Anand Giri was recently arrested in Australia. He was later released on bail.
As per reports, he had assaulted the first woman at her residence in Rooty Hill of Sydney West in 2016, where he had been invited for performing a puja on the occasion of New Year.
Australian police said Giri assaulted the 29-year-old woman in her bedroom. In November 2018, Giri was again invited to Australia by a 34-year-old woman devotee to perform a puja at her home.
The two were praying in the lounge of the woman’s residence, when Giri allegedly made sexually assaulted her. Sydney police said that Giri knew both the women.