GodMan Sant Shri Asaram Ji Bapu Ji in the dock for sexual molestation, not for being a 'Godman'

Asaram Bapu is now under arrest on charges of sexual molestation of a minor. That is a serious indictment and if found guilty, he deserves punishment to the fullest extent permitted under the law. In all the breathless commentary around the subject, however, a few necessary distinctions are being obliterated. It is not clear whether Asaram is on trial for sexual molestation — indeed a serious charge, as we have noted — or for being a 'godman', usually preceded by the epithet 'self-proclaimed' (as if there were any other variety). Secondly, occasions when he allegedly consorted with women are being adduced as reason to believe that he is guilty as charged.

There is a strand of spirituality that believes itself incompatible with sex, but this does not subsume all of spirituality (consider Tantra, Osho's teachings, Vaishnavism, Sufism). Moreover, certain Semitic religions lay great store by the unbridgeable distance between God (who is transcendent) and man (who is fallen), but this does not subsume Eastern religions. In Hinduism, for example, there is a great deal of traffic between gods and men.

Even in a Semitic religion such as Christianity, Jesus Christ was the son of God born to the world of men. Therefore, unless one wishes to be in the boots of the Roman empire which persecuted early Christian sects, a 'godman' is not an inherently evil or even illegitimate category. Neither should it be a category recognised by the state and given more rights than ordinary citizens.

There is also a disturbing puritanism inherent in the equation of promiscuity and sexual crime. A free society should not eliminate the distinction between consent and force. That holds equally for the notion of 'godman', a loose — and often pejorative — English translation of the word 'guru' that exists in most Indian languages, a more accurate translation of which would be 'spiritual mentor'. If X decides to adopt Y as a spiritual mentor surely that is a matter between X and Y, neither society nor state should get in the way. 

All of which goes back to a cardinal principle of Indian jurisprudence: one is innocent until proven guilty. If Asaram is guilty of the charges against him he ought, by all means, to be locked up. But that cannot be established through unwarranted inferences or a media trial.