Padma Shri awardee and monk Kartik Maharaj has approached the Calcutta High Court seeking the quashing of a rape FIR filed against him. The petition was submitted to Justice Joy Sengupta, who has scheduled a hearing for the case.

The religious leader, associated with the Bharat Sevashram Sangha in Beldanga, sought legal recourse after being summoned by the Nabagram Police for questioning. The summons is related to a complaint filed by a woman who accuses Kartik Maharaj of repeatedly raping her under the guise of offering her employment opportunities over a decade ago.

According to the FIR, the woman alleges that in 2013, Kartik Maharaj arranged a teaching position for her at a school in Nabagram and provided her with accommodation on the school's fifth floor. She claims that he sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions there and later summoned her to the Beldanga Ashram, where she was allegedly assaulted over five consecutive days. Furthermore, the complaint states that she was coerced into undergoing an abortion after becoming pregnant. The woman accusing Kartik Maharaj of raping her at least 12 times between January and June of 2013, had also claimed that the accused monk forced her to abort her baby and threatened to commit suicide if she approached the police or informed anyone of what happened to her. Kartik Maharaj has denied all the allegations against him.

Police officers from both Nabagram and Beldanga police stations attempted to serve the summons at the ashram, but Kartik Maharaj was reportedly not present. The notice was eventually handed over to one of his representatives. Murshidabad’s Lalbagh police station registered the case on June 26 and sent a summon notice to the monk, asking him to appear by 10 am on Tuesday for questioning. The monk, who was in Kolkata, skipped the summon.

In the petition submitted to the Calcutta High Court, Kartik Maharaj claimed that the police registered the FIR without conducting a preliminary investigation, basing it solely on a complaint made by a woman about an event that allegedly occurred 13 years ago. He maintains his innocence and asserts that the police actions are intended to harass him.

The case has ignited a political controversy, with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of shielding the accused. The TMC shared a video of the complainant on social media, where she asserts that she was not pressured into filing the complaint. The TMC alleged that the BJP is attempting to give the matter a political slant to protect Kartik Maharaj, labeling the BJP as a party that "enables rapists, sympathizes with predators, and abandons survivors".

The BJP has questioned the timing of the complaint, suggesting that it has been lodged 13 years after the alleged incident and at a time when the state administration and the ruling Trinamool Congress are facing scrutiny over the Kasba law college rape case.

The ruling Trinamool Congress unleashed a fresh attack on the monk after he moved the high court. The party circulated a video of a 2014 event in which the monk purportedly said Hindu women are raped because they cross the Lakshaman Rekha, something Muslim women never do.