During a hearing concerning the sexual harassment of six intellectually disabled girls, the Bombay High Court strongly condemned the practices of Tantrik Vidya and fake babas.

The Court expressed its dismay over the prevalent trend of individuals seeking solutions to their problems from Tantriks/Babas. This observation was made during the hearing of the case, wherein the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction of the individual accused of sexual assault. The high court, in its judgment delivered last month, also upheld the life sentence awarded to a 45-year-old man who claimed to be a Tantrik.

A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande said this was a bizarre case of blind faith and the accused did not deserve any leniency.

The prosecution says a man claiming to be a Tantrik/Baba sexually assaulted six intellectually challenged girls on the pretext of curing them. He allegedly financially exploited the girls' parents and took Rs 1.30 crore from them under the guise of treating the minors.

The First Information Report (FIR) in this regard was filed in 2010. A Session Court convicted the man in 2016 and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The man filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the session court order. The High Court rejected his appeal and upheld the conviction and sentence. The court agreed that the punishment should not be reduced in this case.

The court said, "The facts are disgusting and such a despicable act has been committed not with one but with many girls. In such circumstances, the punishment should also be commensurate." 

"This is such a bizarre case of blind faith. It is an unfortunate reality of our times that people sometimes go to so-called Tantriks/Babas for the solution of their problems and these fake Tantriks/Babas are They take advantage of people's weakness and superstition."

The court has said that fake Tantrik/Babas not only take advantage of their weaknesses by extorting money from them, but also sometimes sexually harass the victims in the guise of providing solutions. The bench, in its order, said that the prosecution has proved the involvement of the accused in sexual assault on the victims through the evidence of the victims and their parents.