The Salvation Trap

Neither light, nor outside air reaches the women trapped in Adhaytmik Vishwa Vidyalaya centres across India. Their guru is charged with human trafficking, but many remain

- Avantika Mehta

THE Adhaytmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram in Rohini in New Delhi is a fortress. The four-storey building houses 200 women and a dozen men, but no one can say for certain. Each window is blocked by thick iron bars and wrapped in blackout sheets. The roof, where the women might dry clothes, is obscured by thick green tarp. Outsiders aren't allowed beyond the lobby, and AVV members don't leave without escorts. The underground parking ensures that even during CBI raids-at least three in nine years-the neighbours would not know.

In a 2018 report filed before the Delhi High Court (DHC), former head of Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal said the ashram was a prison. Recent reports to DHC also say that the inspectors "observed/felt that in-group rules were binding on the girls and no one was willing to violate them." AVV is a sub-branch of the doomsday movement Brahma Kumaris (BKs.) The group's followers call themselves the Advance Party or Prajapita Brahma Kumaris (PBKs.) Based in Kampila, Uttar Pradesh, AVV is headed by 82-year-old self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit. PBKs believe Dixit is a medium for Brahma Kumari leader Lekhraj Brahma. The AVV website describes him as a "poor Brahmin" who is "performing the task of establishing the Golden Age."

Starting from his home in 1984, then with his child bride Kamla devi, Dixit amassed over 50,000 followers and AVV centres in every city of India. The godman has, however, been embroiled in controversy since 1998 when two girls from the Kampila ashram accused him of rape. The court dropped the cases after the survivors turned hostile. Then, in 2017, based on complaints from neighbours, DCW began investigating the Delhi-based AVV ashrams in Vijay Vihar, Nangloi, Karawal Nagar and Mohan Gardens. What it found shocked the nation.