19 July 2021🔗

A report has been published on the persecution of KAILASA (once again) acknowledging KAILASA'S stance against femicide and the persecution of all the indigenous women of KAILASA by the extremists and militant forces.

KAILASH UNION submitted a report on persecution done to THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and KAILASA. The United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has accepted the report on the persecution on the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam and His followers.

The SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam has been facing persecution for over two decades, especially for His highly progressive stance on Vedic feminism, true women empowerment, and worship of primordial cosmic divinity as divine mother (Shaktism).

The attacks on the SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam and His community involved a massive volume of State sponsored lawfare, vexatious litigations, assassination attempts, sexual assaults and gang rape, character assassination, shaming, sexual objectification and persecution of women, girls and even children. Unsurprisingly this persecution has been taken a serious note of internationally.

Kailash Union International Human Rights Council has made several recommendations to international human rights organizations, countries, and particularly voiced concerns of 2 billion Hindus to the UN. The full report is available here:

PREVENTION OF FEMICIDE A REPORT BY THE ASMT HINDU COMMUNITY APRIL 2021

Introduction

• 1. The human rights situation for women and children in Bharat is abysmal. Despite tremendous public outcry against crimes against women and children such as rape, sexual violence, gender-based harassment, and female infanticide happen unabated in Bharat. The State of the Republic of Bharat has been either unwilling or unable to curtail these crimes. Bharat is the most dangerous country for sexual violence against women, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation 2018 survey. According to the National Crimes Records Bureau, the rape of minor girls increased by 82% in the year 2016 compared with the previous year.
• 2. Sexual violence and brutal rape have been weaponized against minority women and children by extremist militant elements at the highest levels of governance. This weaponization of sexual violence targeting women and children is part of a more pervasive and systematic campaign targeting certain indigenous spiritual traditions, minority communities, and their leaders, especially those from linguistic and religious minority groups, and of dark-skinned people of indigenous spiritual traditions, and of ethnic native-Hindu tribes that have existed in Bharat for millennia. One such indigenous spiritual tradition currently targeted for extermination by the Neo-Hindutva extremist militants is the Hindu Adi Shaiva Minority Tradition ("ASMT") in Bharat. The women, children, and young girls of the ASMT community were the most vulnerable target of the Neo-Hindutva extremism.
• 3. The ASMT explicitly rejects extremism of all types. The extremist militant elements are opposed to ASMT's stance when it comes to the rights of women, including otherwise marginalized Dalit women, and the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ and transgendered communities. The neo-Hindutva terrorists despise Hindu women in monastic and priestly roles. The spiritual head of ASMT has publicly declared himself to be transcendental gender and possessing multiple gender components. The neo-Hindutva extremists see LGBTQ+ rights as immoral. The ASMT freely ordains women into Sannyasa (the monastic order), recognizes 11 genders, and performs specific temple rituals for gay marriage, as per more than 5000-year-old indigenous spiritual

Persecution by the politically owned Media

• 4. In the last decade, especially in Bharat, there has been an alarming trend in the mainstream media and social media of sensational screening and manufacture of misinformation and hate speech that is marginalizing minority communities, especially targeting women with the use of image morphing and deep-fake videos. In 2010 a fabricated video of an ASMT actress, Ranjitha was repeatedly and sensationally broadcasted by Sun TV and various media channels to defame her character, and to delegitimize her Guru THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM (SPH), Jagatguru Mahasannidhanam (JGM), His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam.
• 5. The neo-Hindutva-affiliated media published articles with pictures of ASMT female monks with captions such as, "sodomized disciples". The media targeted ASMT minor girls by publishing their pictures in the national newspapers with vulgar captions. The media published fake interviews of ASMT actress Ranjitha for defaming her. Nakkheeran Gopal and other media heads pressured Ranjitha to commit suicide and circulated false news of the same in media as a rumor.
• 6. This smear campaign is not just limited to ASMT women, ASMT female monks, but the most vulnerable target of this persecution, are the ASMT girls and female children, especially those minor girls who pursue religious studies to become nuns. In 2009, a twelve-year-old ASMT girl was kidnapped and molested by a Neo-Hindutva extremist. The US courts sentenced the child rapist to 57 months imprisonment. This did not remedy the damage. The child rapist filed several vexatious litigations in Bharat and the US. In the US, these false allegations by the child rapist, such as calling the child a "liar", and her parents and community part of a "brainwashing", "cult" etc., were all rejected by the court with a penalty for defamation with cost.

Violent sexual objectification of ASMT Hindu nuns and girls by neo-Hindutva media

• 7. In Bharat however, the Neo-Hindutva media ran thousands of hours of hateful programs marginalizing the ASMT child-rape-victim, ASMT actress Ranjitha, ASMT nuns, ASMT women, and girls. The media publicly addressed them as "brainwashed", "sodomized disciples", "witches", "prostitutes", "cult worshippers", (child) "sex slaves", and also published violence-inciting prejudicial narratives such as "Hang the Sin Swamis (Hindu monks and nuns)" etc. Several media houses continue to publish such defamatory articles, causing marginalization of the ASMT women and girls dangerously inciting mob violence and rape against them.

No Legal Recourse Available in Bharat

• 8. In Bharat, court orders are not upheld by the government. The Hindu government and Hindu State departments are perceived as one of the most corrupt in the world. The mainstream Hindu media and social media influencers exercise a massive influence on the masses and even the Court judges. The media is easily able to sway public opinion and even sway the opinion of judges. In a court proceeding directly involving the ASMT, the court explicitly mentioned how the court was prone to prejudice by this negative media propaganda. Though media can influence the judiciary in Bharat, the court judgments are toothless in curbing the media hate propaganda. Neo-Hindutva media wilfully dishonors court orders without any consequence.
• 9. The ASMT actress, Ranjitha, the victim of celebrity deep-fake, petitioned in the Karnataka High Court and all available forums for several years. Although the courts ordered in her favor restraining the misinformation and telecast of fabricated deep-fake videos, the neo-Hindutva media kept pushing the implementation of the order to various quasi-legal institutions (self-regulatory bodies run by the media itself). Finally, the media self-regulatory quasi-legal body, the NBSA ordered its member channels to remove fabricated defamatory videos from their websites. None of the media houses complied with the order and kept reuploading, re-telecasting the same footage, and continue the misinformation propaganda to date. Any complaint on media in the High Court is redirected to NBSA, BCCC, or other such bodies which do not even have a website listing their policies to self-regulate. The NBSA as a self-regulatory body is toothless and is known to disregard its own guidelines and orders even when the member channels ridicule and shame dead celebrities. The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) has maintained silence on the subject and pushed the responsibility on the State executive. A politically owned neo-Hindutva media channel aired a media report where it accused the ASMT leader SPH Nithyananda Paramashivam of raping His own biological mother (a Hindu nun) on the occasion of His father's sad demise. The channel went on to justify their sadist sexual objectification of Hindu nuns terming it as "unbiased reporting". Hindu Courts are unwilling or unable in protecting ASMT women, especially nuns and children.

Legal Recourse Outside Bharat

• 10. The Hindu media kept marginalizing the ASMT nuns and girls with defamatory sexualized allegations. In 2017, a US Court penalized a neo-Hindutva media to the tune of \$USD 5 Million for civil conspiracy and defamation targeting the ASMT community. This is the largest penalty against any Hindu media. This did not remedy the damage as other media channels and journalists continued the smear campaign.

Persecution of ASMT Hindu nuns by State

• 11. 2 March 2010, the sensational and repeated screening of a fabricated deep fake video purporting to show the SPH with Ranjitha – a well-known Hindu film actress - spread and was

• 8 March 2010 - Dina Malar, Chennai - Page 2 - "THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Ashramathil Irunda", Police forcibly evicted all the people who stayed in the ashrams owned by Swami Nithyananda (நித்யானந்தாவுக்கு ச ாந்தமாக மாநிலம் முழுவதும்உள்ள ஆசிரமங்களில் தங்கியிருந்தவர்களள, ப ாலீ ார்அதிரடியாக சவளிபயற்றியுள்ளனர்), full translation - (ii) 4 March 2010 Dinakaran - Page 4,15

• 7 Jun 2012, Bengaluru, neo-Hindutva militants attacked an ASMT monastery, several ASMT nuns were raped. The Chief Minister of Karnataka State - D V Sadananda Gowda, was in direct complicity and had publicly declared his Government's stand to persecute the ASMT leader and community.
• 17 Sep 2013, the Karnataka State Department of Women and Children forcibly, cruelly, and illegally interrogate children in the ASMT school (Gurukul). The interrogation was done without the consent of the parents, with no video recording of the examiners, late-night beyond the time permissible by law. The State interrogators shamed and ridiculed the children, particularly girls for their dress, pressured them to quit their spiritual-religious lifestyle, and forced children to eat unhealthy substances avoided in the ASMT lifestyle. The lawyer of the school was sued by the State for intervening in the violation of the rights of children and parents. Several such raids were done by the State and many vexatious legal proceedings and orders were executed by the State to forcibly shut down the school.
• 28 Oct 2015, an ASMT female monk was molested and escaped an attempted rape by a neo-Hindutva militant.
• 18 Jan 2018, young female nun Ma Nithyananditha received death threats over the phone for voicing out against defamatory sexualization of Hindu female saint Aandal by politically owned media. Several obscene morphed videos depicting Ma Nithyananditha and ASMT children were uploaded on social media by unknown groups.
• In November 2019, the Gujarat State government (CWC) Child Welfare Commission officials raided the female monastery and molested the children studying there. The CWC officials were pulled up by the parents of these children in the High Court. The police complaint against the State authorities was closed without investigation and the petition to the Court was forced to be withdrawn by the Court. Instead, a false case was charged against the women monk heads, and

they were kept under custody for almost 3 months. The only women monastery and Hindu University was demolished. The false case is still not closed.

• Such targeted persecution of Hindu nuns and female religious leaders is not limited to the ASMT but aimed at destroying the rights of indigenous female spiritual leaders. Vexatious litigations have been used to persecute female Hindu spiritual leaders on absurd allegations of indecent dressing booking it under anti-superstition laws.

Recommendation

• While the use of information and communications technology has contributed to the empowerment of women and girls, its use has also generated new forms of violence against women and girls. The use of media (both conventional and social) for negative stereotyping and persecution of women and girls, especially from marginalized communities should be studied, added to the scope of Women Observatories, and brought to check.
• Women nuns who lead indigenous minority religious communities like the ASMT have been deprived of their human rights in their home country. The international community, and member states of the United Nations, need to support them by providing a safe place protecting their basic human rights, where they can practice their religion, and revive their arts and traditions peacefully.
• There were close to many indigenous tribes and spiritual traditions in the Hindu sub-continent that were mother worshippers and lead by women. The ASMT is one of them. Colonization and invasions in ancient times and religious intolerance and caste-based violence and extremism in contemporary times have made them extinct. These women have been marginalized and labeled as witches and persecuted since time immemorial. Now is the time, that the world needs to protect these traditions by internationally declaring them endangered.
• The victims of this new form of persecution, which involves deep-fake and sophisticated smear campaigns should be supported by condemnation of the violence and propaganda waged against them.
• The use of deep-fake videos for targeting women should be brought to check and condemned internationally.
• Tribal and indigenous girls should be protected from detribalization and persecution by the State as highlighted in this report. This persecution is often difficult to understand as it waged in the guise of women empowerment and child protection, which is essentially a new form of the civilizing mission.