The spiritual leader of the Swaminarayan Bhuj Mandir sect, Krushnaswarup Dasji in one of his preaching videos has shared his regressive notion which still prevail around menstruation.
The prophet can be heard saying at one gathering, "If you eat food prepared by a menstruating women even once then your next avatar will definitely will be that of an ox."
He has some more vague notions which says, "A menstruating woman who cooks food for her husband will certainly be reborn as a kutri’ (bitch)."
Also Read: Gujarat: 68 women of Bhuj college forced to remove underwear to prove they are not menstruating
However, the preacher continued to made alleged comments at a ratri sabha in Bhuj. He justified his remarks by saying that these rules have been "outlined in Shastras."
The SSGI college is run by a trust of the Swaminarayan Temple and is affiliated to the Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kutch University. When regional news agency reached out to hostel trustees for comments on the preacher's remarks, they refused to say anything.
According to institutional officials, the SSGI hostel has a rule that girls having periods are not supposed to take meals with their fellows. However, these rigid norms had been allegedly broken by some girls. A hostel inmate said more than 60 students were taken to the washroom by a woman staffer and made to remove their undergarments to check if they were menstruating.
Police, on Monday, arrested four persons, including the principal of the Gujarat college in the incident. Principal Rita Raninga, girls' hostel rector Ramilaben Hirani, college peon Naina Gorasiya and one Anita Chauhan were arrested by the police. All accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 384 (extortion), 355 (assault with intent to dishonour a person) and 506 (criminal intimidation), said cops.
Shortly after the incident came to knowledge, a seven-member team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Sunday met the girl inmates of the hostel.