IICSA: a Sikh 'baba' engaged by a family to heal a sick teenager told her Guru Nanak had come to him in dreams, then assaulted her while reciting a term of reverence

Proceedings

1. 2021-09-02 · statutory inquiry investigation report published

   Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), England and Wales. In evidence to the Inquiry from Southall Black Sisters, an account was recorded of a teenage girl abused by a baba — a Sikh holy man — who had been engaged by her family when she became unwell. He told her that Guru Nanak had come to him in his dreams and that her health problems would go away; he gave her holy water and said he would massage her stomach to help the holy water take effect, then touched her breasts and put his hands in her underwear, reciting a term of reverence in Sikhism throughout. The Inquiry set this alongside comparable accounts involving Muslim, Pentecostal and Hindu figures as examples of belief being used to facilitate or justify abusive behaviour.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• engagement by the family as a holy man to heal the girl, which supplied the access
• the claim that Guru Nanak had come to him in his dreams and that her health problems would go away
• holy water given to her, with intimate contact framed as making the holy water take effect
• a term of reverence in Sikhism recited throughout the assault