By Asia Samachar | Malaysia |
A British Sikh preacher, who has been to Malaysia, Singapore and Canada on preaching circuits, is alleged to have sexually abused a Sikh youth some years ago. The revelation was carried by the The Kaur Movement, a social media platform that has highlighted various types of abuses within the Sikh community for some time now.
The preacher, popular with the youth as he is conversant in English and adept at social media, was alleged to have ‘groomed and emotionally abused’ the youth for many months before sexually abusing him.
The youth alleged that the preacher had ‘preyed on my vulnerability and took advantage of my strife to learn about Sikhi’. Sikhi is the term Sikhs use to describe their faith, commonly referred to as Sikhism.
Following the revelations, a number of Sikh organisations and groups involved in the Sikh space in Britain have called for a meeting (8pm British time on Saturday, Oct 2) to discuss the development.
The unidentified youth claimed that he was sharing his experience publicly for the first time ‘after learning that many individuals and entities have become complicit in putting vulnerable youths at risk’ by giving stage time to the alleged perpetrator. The alleged preacher has spoken from the stages of various gurdwaras in Britain and elsewhere.
“Often, he’d move in his sleep if I were staying over at his house for a paath reading. He would rub his legs on me and pretend he was sleeping. I know he was rubbing his genitals on me whilst I was sleeping,” according to the allegations. “I saw pictures on his laptop of young Sikh youths who he spoke about in abnormally obsessive way, commenting on their ‘look’ One of these youths was probably around 12 years old.” Paath refers to reading of the Sikh scripture.
Making reference to a specific incident, the youth alleged: “In 2010, when I was 18, [name deleted] tried to sexually abuse me at his house. Whilst asleep, amongst several others, in his living room, on individual floor-mattresses, [name deleted] reached his arm around my shoulder. I woke up when I felt a tug at my waist and saw [his] hand attempting to life my underwear from the front side.”
When contacted by Asia Samachar, the individual who invited the alleged preacher to Malaysia for a preaching tour dismissed the allegations, saying he had known the preacher personally for some 15 years.
The Kaur Movement social media pages, which have been highlighting various types of abuses and issues within the community, is run by a Sikh lady who has shared her photos on the social media platform.
In one posting, she said the she had registered The Kaur Movement Foundation in 2020. Displayed in the posting was a certificate supposedly issued in British Columbia.
SEE ALSO: Yogi Bhajan’s sexual exploits under investigation
In an entry dated Sept 25 at the The Kaur Movement social media platform, she talked about a 19-minute conversation with the alleged preacher.
She writes: “This was before any of the victims experiences went up. He was well aware of everything that was going to be posted on The Kaur Movement Platform.
“His request was to not make anything public and to give him any punishment through the “5 pyare”. He said to pick any 5 people of my choosing and they can decide what punishment he should receive, for example, leaving preaching. He wanted this whole situation dealt with privately and not publicly. I declined and said the sangat has the right to know what crimes you have committed and the victims want you to publicly admit your wrongdoings. He declined to do this and repeated that he will do whatever the “5 pyare” say to do.”
She also added that she had challenged the preacher to undergo a lie detector test, something that the alleged victims are supposed to have agreed to themselves.
Since the posting, she claimed that she had received either emails or telephone calls from three Sikh preachers asking if the post was about them. At the same time, she said that several more victims have come forward with their own personal experiences with Sikh preachers and how they were allegedly sexually assaulted at gurdwaras or Sikh camps.
In a number of Sikh discussion groups, texts of which were shared with Asia Samachar, it has been suggested that the incident could prove to a seminal #MeToo moment for Sikhs. Some had suggested that Sikh organisations need to improve the way they handle allegations of sexual abuse and other serious issues faced by the community. More often that not, such issues are usually dismissed outright or organisations lack channels to appropriately handle them.
The #MeToo phrase was first coined in 2006 by Tarana Burke, an advocate for women in New York. She wanted a way to empower women who had endured sexual violence by letting them know that they were not alone—that other women had suffered the same experience they had.
RELATED STORY:
Lessons from fall of rockstar evangelists Ravi Zacharias and Yogi Bhajan – Part 1 (Asia Samachar, 6 March 2021)
Going public on sexual abuse at gurdwaras (Asia Samachar, 9 July 2021)
We are not strangers to sexual abuse by kirtanias and granthis (Asia Samachar, 3 Oct 2020)
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This is a very serious safeguarding issue. All gurdwaras should have policies in place for avenues to address such issues. The parcharaks and religious officials are no different from ordinary folks. They come in all shapes and forms. Undoubtedly some are very good people. It is important to realise that a religious scholar is not necessarily a religious person. Knowing and practicing( or living a faith) are very different things. We hear many stories of visiting raagis who are often invited to stay at family homes. These might seem to be innocent acts of devotion and respect but they can also be dangerous mistakes that could damage the lives of young uninformed children. At the very least these should be seen as warning signs for the need to make sure our congregations are aware of the possibility of things like these happening. Parents might be too trusting but institutions should have safeguarding guidelines based on proper risk assessments to warn families of the possible dangers. The law does require all activities at the institutions to be run within safeguarding guidelines. However, from my experience of working with gurdwara for 30 years I find all policies seem to be an exercise is copying a document from some source and filing it to be brought out when some government asks if there is a policy. There are no real actions and upadates or checks on the operation of the policies.
Sukhpreet, thanks for the link. Always good to hear another view. But to say The Kaur Movement is ‘all lies’ is rather presumptive. Such incidents can, and have, happened. So I won’t rule them out outright. If there are allegations, they need to be looked at. In this case, it is not one solitary incident. Looks like more cases have surfaced.
It’s all lies – check out the realsikhissues.co where The Kaur Movement has been exposed.
If its true why police reports are not made..
Important to make public name of the preacher to protect others.
Failure or refusal to do so may give perception that it is a fake story and may not be true.
Bless all
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