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Gail Tredwell stands by rape accusations against prominent Kerala Mutt priest
By Binduraj Kochi
Gail Tredwell, the author of 'Holy Hell:A Memoir of Faith, Devotion and Pure Madness', who alleged in her book that she was raped repeatedly by the chief priest of the Mutt Balu in mid-eighties and physically tortured by the God woman Amrithanandamayi during her stay in the ashramam, told India Today on Sunday that she will standby her allegations and have no intention of withdrawing anything. "I stand behind everything that is written in my book and have no intention of withdrawing anything. I have told the truth, without any malicious motives, and therefore they don't have a valid case against me," Gail Tredwell said in her e-mail sent to India Today. On why she hesitated to file a legal complaint in the issue, she said that she believes in higher forms of justice and do not wish to spend years dealing with legal proceedings. "I do not intend to file any legal complaint. I have already spent twenty years of my life with this organization and do not wish to spend several more years dealing with legal proceedings. Filing a case does not necessarily guarantee justice. I believe in higher forms of justice," Gail Tredwell wrote to this correspondent. Amrithanananda Mutt on Friday told India Today that they were planning to file a defamation case against Gail Tredwell in a New York Court. Gail told India Today that dragging the case to the legal system would create more negative notoriety for the Mutt. "I have no money for them to collect, so by any math, defamation suit would only be to financially intimidate me with costly legal proceedings. But dragging this matter through the legal system would inevitably create more media attention and negative notoriety for them," Gail said. She also said that she was very disturbed by the use of police power to try silencing freedom of speech of the many voices that obviously agree that something is very wrong. Kerala home minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday told India Today that no action can be initiated against Amrithanandamayi Mutt based on the revelations in the book. Meanwhile, the minister said that a case has been registered based on a complaint given by five devotees of Mata Amrithanandamayi aganist a few Facebook users for posting and sharing "defamatory materials" against Amrithanadamayi. "Such an action could not only intimidate freedom of speech but also incite violence and retaliation against district people who speak out," said Gail in her e-mail to India Today. On Saturday at a function in Palakkad in Kerala, Mata Amrithanandamayi said that the functioning of the ashramam is an open book and refuted all the allegations levelled in the book. "I am trying to forgive and forget such incidents. While forgiving, we have to experience many unpleasant situations," she said without telling the context. "Nothing wrong has occurred in the ashramam as alleged by some people," Amrithanandamayi said during her devotional discourse in connection with the anniversary celebrations of the Brahmasthanam temple in Puthur in Palakkad.
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