Mumbai Tantriks Rape Women in the name of 'Healing'

A Tantrik in India always draws mixed sentiments from onlookers. They can be seen everywhere, on trains and buses, walking on the streets and even mysteriously visiting places like cremation ground at odd hours of the day, the very thought of which will make most people shudder.

While many people ignore them, there are people who have enormous ‘faith’ in these self-styled Godmen. There have been several instances when people refused medical diagnosis and treatment and turned to such Tantriks, as they believe that these people have ‘God-gifted’ abilities to do the undoable and cure the incurable. Some also claim that they have actually benefitted from the Tantriks, however trying to find evidence for such occurrences is like searching for something in a long dark tunnel.

Tantriks till date remain a mystery for most people. Whether they actually have ‘special’ powers or not still remains a matter of debate between them who hail the Tantriks and them who don’t. It, however, goes without saying that these self-styled healers have also been involved in heinous criminal activities that have caused loss to lives, property, and dignity.

Here are some such cases from Mumbai where Tantriks, in the pretext of ‘healing’ women, raped them.

A 17-year old girl in Powai region of Mumbai was sexually assaulted by a Tantrik for five years. The Tantrik who lived close to her house had been treating her for behavioral changes until one day her mother followed her to the Tantrik’s house and found that she was touching her inappropriately. The girl’s mother finally registered a complaint against the Godmen with Powai police.

A Tantrik disguised as Sai Baba allegedly raped and conned a daily soap actress of Rs 26 lakh, after convincing her that he was a manifestation of revered Saint Sai Baba himself. The actress who was over-enthusiastic about winning a lottery met the Tantrik to ‘ensure’ her win when he raped her and escaped with Rs 26 lakh which she had paid him as an offering. He was later arrested by the Charkop Police. The incident occurred in May 2014.

A 55- year old house help was arrested for threatening to rape a 30-year old maid by performing black magic on her in January 2017.

A Tantrik sexually assaulted a 30-year old woman in Vasai who had turned to him seeking solutions to her domestic disputes.

A telephone operator was raped by her boss in 2007, who told her that he is a Tantrik and made her believe that a ghost was trying to possess her. In the pretext of doing a ‘puja’ to ward off the spirit, the accused raped her. He also took her illicit picture which he used to threaten her and rape her several times. The victim finally lodged a complaint against him on July 18, 2015.

A Tantrik was held for allegedly raping and blackmailing a 40-year-old housewife. The Godman first brought her into confidence by ‘using his black magic’ to solve her problems and later raped her and started blackmailing her. He was arrested on November 19, 2015.

On April 23, 2018, a 26-year old Delhi woman filed a complaint against a Tantrik named Mohd Usman who had lured her to visit Ajmer in Rajasthan where he raped her.

Such incidents have received condemnation from aware citizens and several NGOs are creating awareness among people to prevent them from falling prey to such self-styled Godmen.