Years After Self-Styled Godman Virendra Dev Dixit Flees CBI, His Victims Contend With The Abuse They Suffered, And Inflicted

The Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram in Rohini in New Delhi is a fortress. The four-storey building houses 200 women and a dozen men, but no one can say for certain. Each window is blocked by thick iron bars and wrapped in blackout sheets. The roof, where the women might dry clothes, is obscured by thick green tarp. Outsiders aren바카라�t allowed beyond the lobby, and AVV members don바카라�t leave without escorts. The underground parking ensures that even during CBI raids바카라�at least three in nine years바카라�the neighbours would not know.

In a 2018 report filed before the Delhi High Court (DHC), former head of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal said the ashram was a prison. Recent reports to DHC also say that the inspectors 바카라�observed/felt that in-group rules were binding on the girls and no one was willing to violate them.바카라�

AVV is a sub-branch of the doomsday movement Brahma Kumaris (BKs.) The group바카라�s followers call themselves the Advance Party or Prajapita Brahma Kumaris (PBKs.) Based in Kampila, Uttar Pradesh, AVV is headed by 82-year-old self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit. PBKs believe Dixit is a medium for Brahma Kumari leader Lekhraj Brahma. The AVV website describes him as a 바카라�poor Brahmin바카라� who is 바카라�performing the task of establishing the Golden Age.바카라�

Starting from his home in 1984, then with his child bride Kamla devi, Dixit amassed over 50,000 followers and AVV centres in every city of India. The godman has, however, been embroiled in controversy since 1998 when two girls from the Kampila ashram accused him of rape. The court dropped the cases after the survivors turned hostile. Then, in 2017, based on complaints from neighbours, DCW began investigating the Delhi-based AVV ashrams in Vijay Vihar, Nangloi, Karawal Nagar and Mohan Gardens. What it found shocked the nation.

Sex as Seva

In December 2017, Srivanitha was a 20-year-old who바카라�d been living and working in AVV, an organisation claiming to impart spiritual teachings to their students, for two years. When AVV바카라�s head, Dixit, called her to his suite to do seva (service), she thought nothing of it other than that she would have to serve him food, or massage his feet.

When the older women of the ashram took her to the floor where Dixit lived alone and apart from the rest of the building, she was taken aback that they locked her in. Still, she went to his bedroom when he called. 바카라�I believed he was like our father and so thought he wanted me to do seva like press his feet,바카라� she said.

When Dixit tried to rape her, Srivanitha leapt away. She ran out of his room but she faced the suite바카라�s locked main door. 바카라�I did not stop screaming until a woman came up the stairs, unlocked the door, and ran away without saying a word to me,바카라� she said.

Srivanitha, who was so taken in by Dixit that she brought her brother and sister into the group, was not the first, nor the last. She left the ashram, but her brother is also a PBK follower.

At the time of the incident, DCW was investigating Dixit for human trafficking charges related to the AVV institute; 41 women had been rescued by the CBI from centres in Rohini and Mohan Garden. The DHC had given an order restraining his movements out of Delhi during the investigation. The incident happened in an AVV centre in Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, just days after the High Court바카라�s order, says Srivanitha.

Blind Devotion, Abuse of Power

Dixit absconded nine years ago; the CBI issued a lookout notice on him. But even after numerous reports of abuse and raids at his ashrams, AVV followers flock towards them, leaving the authorities baffled.

바카라�You can present whatever evidence you want in front of the women who are inside바카라�they will not believe you, and they will not be moved by it,바카라� says 40-year-old Prerna*, who escaped from an Anantpur-based ashram in 2021. Her certainty comes from experience, she adds. 바카라�Far from acknowledging the cases, I used to think 바카라�why are these women talking nonsense and spoiling their own mood,바카라�바카라� she explained.

Prerna surrendered herself in Farrukhabad in 2005. Her mother was a Dixit devotee, but did not want the 19-year-old BTech graduate from Andhra to go to an AVV ashram. But, having seen the satsangs and heard Dixit바카라�s teachings her whole life, Prerna felt she wanted to dedicate her life to spiritual learning. On her first day in the ashram, senior women told her to meet Dixit, and he raped her, she said.

The next day, when she tried to leave, senior women in the ashram known as matas and didis depending on their marital status, gathered around her to stop her. 바카라�This was a test of your faith,바카라� they told the teenager.

Jayati Kalra, a Delhi-based psychoanalyst who works with former cult members in her practice, says that understanding the motives of one individual in a cult does not give the full picture. 바카라�The question of what happens in these women바카라�s minds needs to be reframed into what happens in these groups,바카라� she said.

According to Kalra, the need to belong is primal for all human beings, but a cult is differentiated by the presence of a charismatic leader who offers some divine knowledge. Dixit promises the women deliverance from kalyug /world바카라�s end, and the chance to be one of the chosen 16,108 who will repopulate the Earth. Cults also exercise coercive control over their members, says Kalra, adding that people are indoctrinated in a systematic manner.

When asked why she stayed 16 years after the rape, escaping in 2021, Prerna points to the fact that she was immediately transferred to Kampila after the incident, given responsibilities, and made in-charge of an ashram in Anantpur within the year. 바카라�Being made in-charge is special, you have a bit more control and more knowledge than the other women so I felt I would be protected now,바카라� she said.

Kalra said this pattern of abuse and reward is the norm for cults. 바카라�There are rewards that come along the way바카라�you do a good enough job being devoted, you can meet the leader, or be in charge of the centre, or control other members, and that can be a motivator to stay,바카라� said Kalra.

Unbreakable Rules, Harsh Punishments

Cults also exercise control over its members in other ways as well바카라�physical and psychological, Kalra says.

Within the ashrams, Prerna describes an atmosphere of paranoia, coercive control and abuse. 바카라�The atmosphere he creates is such that no one really shares anything with the person next to them or about what happened to them,바카라� she said.

In an affidavit filed before DHC on January 29, Srivanitha described how, shrouded in secrecy, scared of their own shadows, the women are kept under control.

Those who surrender or are made to join AVV centres by family members have to submit an affidavit confirming they are virgins, or born-again virgins. Those who live in the ashrams aren바카라�t allowed to marry, or speak to men and even each other outside of household matters such as cleaning and cooking. 바카라�Only women are surrendered in the ashram. Men can come and go as they please,바카라� said Srivanitha.

Their day begins at two am, when they wake to perform ablutions and bathe. They serve Dixit and the senior women breakfast, do the washing and clean the ashram. The organisation divides the women in groups according to the task at hand바카라�one group for cooking, another for cleaning toilets, etc.

바카라�Every cult starts developing its rituals. The ritualisation solidifies a sense of belonging,바카라� said Kalra.

Hardly is the women바카라�s work done when hour-long lessons on spirituality start at 5 am, and then these lessons are repeated five times a day, every day.

바카라�During these sessions, there is music, there are speeches, one gets swayed. It feels like you are so spiritual that even in a rock you can see God. I used to believe he was a god,바카라� said 50-year-old Anna behen, who was one of Dixit바카라�s first followers in his Kampila house.

According to Kalra, this is a systematic way to break down their defences. 바카라�When one joins, they are part of this outer circle and one goes to satsangs one meets other members and starts realising there is a hierarchy of members inside. Then, as they spend more time, they become closer to the leader and get access to something special바카라�information in this case바카라�then little by little, they are forced to believe ideas with nonstop bombardment of facts, supposed logic and confidence. This is done repeatedly over time바카라�because it doesn바카라�t happen in one go,바카라� she explained.

Another tactic that contributes to his legend in AVV is Dixit바카라�s insistence on confessional letters called Pota Mail. Every member writes down their confessions, which include carnal feelings or doubts they may have about their path at AVV on a weekly, sometimes daily, basis. 바카라�You have to write every small detail바카라�the time, the place, your physical sensations even,바카라� Prerna said. The Pota Mail allows Dixit to gain intimate knowledge of each member, which he would then use while speaking to them or giving talks (murli) in their ashrams. 바카라�People hear him say something relevant to their letter at the ashram and think, 바카라�Babaji knows all, he must be prophetic,바카라� she said.

Anyone who questions the rules, or speaks up is called a vidrohi (rebels.) Within the ashram, vidrohis are ignored, removed from positions of power, and kept in a separate room. Should they manage to escape like Srivanitha or Prerna, no member of AVV will speak to them, even their own family. Srivanitha바카라�s older brother remains a believer and will not eat any food she has prepared because, as a vidrohi, she바카라�s a bad soul.

Out with the Old Baba, in with the New

On the outskirts of Delhi, a four-storey building in Palam houses a new AVV ashram. The ground floor and second floor are occupied by the ashram and young girls, who are followers of a new AVV sect started by Dixit바카라�s former lawyer Amol Kokane. The doors of the third floor are fortified are by iron bars, echoing the Rohini ashram.

While not much is known about Kokane, he had joined AVV in 2005, and thereafter studied law. Thus far, the 44-year-old has only represented Dixit in cases before the DHC. He is internet-famous for calling women the doorways to hell바카라�a remark that caused Justice Gita Mittal, before whom he was arguing Dixit바카라�s case, to stop the hearing and ask him if he was, in fact, a lawyer.

It would appear that, upon Dixit fleeing from police, Kokane has taken over parts of AVV. In 2021, he declared himself an Ashtdev, supposedly one of eight angels who will lead people to salvation at the end of the world. In line with the Brahma Kumaris, AVV/PBK too believes the world will end in 2036, after which they will be chosen to repopulate the earth.

In January, 43-year-old Soumya* filed a writ before the DHC demanding to see her daughter who had turned 18 only two weeks before running away to the Palam ashram. Soumya claims the girl left her Coimbatore-home at Kokane바카라�s encouragement. WhatsApp chats filed in court show Kokane chatting with the then-16-year-old girl, telling her: 바카라�I바카라�m thinking of you바카라� I바카라�m coming to visit you, when are you coming meet me?바카라� She alleges Kokane has been grooming her daughter since she was a minor. 바카라�He even had her record me while we were arguing about her involvement with this group so that later he could tell her how, point by point, I am wrong,바카라� says Soumya.

However, Indian law fails victims here, says advocate Sneha Singh, a child rights lawyer who specialises in POCSO cases.

바카라�Grooming isn바카라�t defined anywhere in our criminal laws바카라�the IT Act does not cover online grooming of children, unless it바카라�s overtly sexual,바카라� she said, adding that as per the Indian system, any grooming must be followed by sexual contact for it to be considered a crime.

Soumya got a court order allowing her visitation with her daughter for 45 minutes a day. The young girl was dressed in a sari, wore none of her jewellery as it had been surrendered to the ashram, and refused to look at or even touch her mother. Any contact with people who don바카라�t believe in the faith is considered taboo.

(This appeared in the print as 'The Salvation Trap')