A CBI court in Punjab convicted self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim of rape and sexual exploitation last month. The verdict has virtually brought down his Dera Sacha Sauda empire. Now, a self-styled god-woman faces heat for hurting religious sentiments, threatening and offences related to dowry harassment.

She is Radhe Maa of Dera Paramhans, which is based at Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. Radhe Maa was originally named as Sukhwinder Kaur. Later, she moved to Mumbai and runs her own ashram from Borivali.

Since April, two high courts have issued orders to police of two states to initiate probe against her. On April 28, the Bombay High Court asked the Mumbai police to record statement of one Niki Gupta, who accused Radhe Maa of instigating her in-laws to harass her for dowry.

SEDUCTION CASE AGAINST RADHE MAA

Four months later, on September 5, Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered to register FIR against Radhe Maa on a petition filed by Phagwara (Punjab) resident Surinder Mittal. This is a two-year-old case, wherein Surinder Mittal had claimed that Radhe Maa had tried to seduce him when he, as a devotee, went to her seeking blessings.

Following this Mittal lodged a complaint against Radhe Maa in 2015. He sought registration of a case against her for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, threatening and other offences under IPC. After police did not respond to his complaint, Mittal had then approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The then single bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered the Kapurthala SSP to determine if cognizable offence was made out of Mittla's allegations against Radhe Maa and take appropriate action.

Mittal recently moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court saying that the police have not acted on the previous order. Hearing the fresh plea from Mittal, the high court ordered registration of FIR against Radhe Maa and issued notice to Kapurthala SSP asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against him.

WHO IS RADHE MAA?

The 48-year-old Radhe Maa was born in Gurdaspur district of Punjab as Sukhwinder Kaur, who studied till class IV. Sukhwinder Kaur was married off at 17 to one Mohan Singh. To support back up her husband's meagre earning, Sukhwinder Kaur stitched clothes as teenager.

After Mohan Singh went to Qatar in search of better job, Sukhwinder Kaur, at 23, became a disciple of Mahant Ram Deen Das of 1008 Paramhans Dera of Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district. Ram Deen Das gave her the title of Radhe Maa after initiating her in tantric learning.

Later, Radhe Maa moved to Mumbai and made it her base. She was at the centre of controversy in Mumbai after Niki Gupta complained to police that Radhe Maa incited her in-laws to harass her for dowry. In a separate case, a lawyer accused her of obscenity on the basis of videos showing her being lifted by followers while dancing to Bollywood songs.

Radhe Maa has a temple to her name located about 2 km from the ashram of her guru at Mukerian. At Borivali, Radhe Maa has a palatial Radhe Maa Bhawan, where she holds various religious events every fortnight drawing hundreds of wealthy followers. Filmmaker Subhash Ghai and former FTII chairman Gajendra Chouhan are among the notable followers of Radhe Maa.

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