Swami Krushnaswarup Dasji is associated with the Swaminarayan Temple which runs a college whose staff had allegedly forced more than 60 girls to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating

A religious leader from Gujarat has said that menstruating women who cook food for their husbands will be reborn as dogs in their next life, while men consuming food prepared by women having their periods will be reborn as bullocks.

Swami Krushnaswarup Dasji, who made these remarks, is associated with the Swaminarayan Temple which runs a college in Bhuj whose principal and female staff had allegedly forced more than 60 girls to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating.

The principal, the hostel rector and the peon of Shree Sahajanand Girls Institute (SSGI) were arrested on Monday for the alleged incident which occurred on February 11.

“It is certain that men will be born as bullocks in their next life if they consume food cooked by menstruating women. I don’t care if you do not like my views, but this is written in our shastras [scriptures]. If a menstruating woman cooks food for her husband, she will definitely be born as a female dog in her next life,” the religious leader said while delivering a sermon in Gujarati, the video of which has gone viral.

Krushnaswarup Dasji belongs to the Nar-Narayan Devgadi of the Swami Narayan sect.

In the video, he can be heard warning men against consuming food prepared by menstruating women. He can also be heard admonishing women for being “careless” about their menstruation period, which he likened with “penance”. He is also heard asking men to learn how to cook.

“Women do not realise that the period of menstruation is like doing tapasya [penance]. This is written in our shastras. Even I do not like to tell you all these things, but I have to warn you. Men should learn cooking...It will help you,” he said.

The time and place of the video clip could not be ascertained. The videos of the sermons are available on a YouTube channel run by the temple.

As per the website of the Swaminarayan Temple, Krushnaswarup Dasji was initiated in the order in the year 1995. SSGI, a self-financed college having its own hostel for girls, is also run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple, Bhuj.

February 11 incident

According to girl students, the incident took place on February 11 when more than 60 students were taken to the washroom by a woman staffer and made to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating.

A probe by the Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kutch University had earlier revealed that the girls were checked because the hostel had a rule that did not allow girls having their periods to eat their meals with other inmates.

Hostel authorities had decided to check the girls after they came to know that certain students had broken this rule.

Principal Rita Raninga, hostel rector Ramilaben Hirani, college peon Naina Gorasiya and Anita Chauhan were arrested by the police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).