‘Indian-origin Maoist leader in U.K. forced woman into sex acts’

REUTERS

Aravindan Balakrishnan, a 75-year-old Indian-origin Maoist revolutionary leader in the UK, charged with modern day slavery, sexual assault and imprisonment of his own daughter, forced a woman to commit humiliating sex acts on him, a court here has been told.

Aravindan Balakrishnan (75) charged with modern day slavery, sexual assault and imprisonment of his own daughter.

Aravindan Balakrishnan, a 75-year-old Indian-origin Maoist revolutionary leader in the United Kingdom, charged with modern day slavery, sexual assault and imprisonment of his own daughter, forced a woman to commit humiliating sex acts on him, a court here has been told.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court that over several years after she had joined the commune in 1976, Mr. Balakrishnan hit her and told her he could easily kill her using a pressure point on her throat. She said that by 1980, when he allegedly forced her into sex acts, she had lost her ability to resist. The jury heard that other women in the commune were also forced to have sex with him, and were given one-hour slots in which to see him,The Guardian reported.

Charismatic speaker

Mr. Balakrishnan, a charismatic and energetic speaker, was the organiser of a communist group in the 1970s based in Brixton, known as the Workers Institute.

The woman said she had been frightened of Mr. Balakrishnan, and that over several years of being harangued and beaten for saying or doing things that he said indicated bourgeois tendencies or the infiltration of “fascist agents” into her thinking, he had achieved “a sense of absolute power and control” over her body and mind.

Brainwashing

Last week, the Southwark Crown Court was told that Mr. Balakrishnan raped female followers and imprisoned his own daughter for 30 years after brainwashing them into believing he was an all-powerful and all-seeing leader.

He ruled over a dwindling band of women supporters in his south London communist collective using threats and violence as he pursued his goal of overthrowing the “fascist state,” jurors were told last week.

Pleads not guilty

Mr. Balakrishnan faces charges, including rape, sexual assault and assault of two women, and wrongful imprisonment and child cruelty in respect of his daughter, who was born in the secretive commune and only escaped in 2013 aged 30. He has pleaded not guilty to all counts.