Bobbitised Kerala 'godman' remanded in custody

A 54-year-old self-styled godman, bobbitised by a young woman, was on Sunday remanded in judicial custody till June 3 by a local magistrate.

Police accompanied a magistrate to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital where accused Hari Swami is undergoing treatment, and completed the formalities for his custody.

Police had formally arrested him on Saturday.

Hari Swami will now be housed in a cell at the hospital, where jail inmates admitted to hospital are kept, till he is discharged.

The woman, aged 23, cut off Hari Swami's genitals on Friday night after accusing him of sexual abuse for years. Hari Swami later underwent surgery and was said to be out of danger.

Police now plan to question him.

Police have moved the woman to an undisclosed location, after she recorded her statement before a magistrate here on Saturday night.

Police said it will call her mother to record her statement.

Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha member and Congress leader Sashi Tharoor wrote on his Facebook wall: "I sympathise with her, as most people would, but we need a society where justice prevails; not the one where every individual seeks it with a knife in her hand."

--IANS

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