The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday, March 1, responded to the controversy surrounding representatives from the United States of Kailasa, a ‘country’ founded by rape-accused godman Nithyananda, speaking at the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESR) meeting on February 24. The representative from Kailasa also attended another meeting organised by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women (CEDW) on February 22.
Vivian Kwok, a media officer at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Kailasa’s written submission to the CEDW will not be published as it was “irrelevant to the topic of discussion” in an email to BBC. However, there were no details on what the written submission in question said. The media officer further told BBC that Kailasa’s inputs at CESR’s meeting would also not be taken into consideration because its comments were “tangential to the topic at hand.”
At the meeting held on February 24, Kailasa’s self-declared ‘permanent ambassador’ Vijayapriya Nithyananda branded the ‘country’ as the “first sovereign state of Hinduism” and Nithyananda as the “Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism.” She went on to claim that Nithyananda and the citizens of Kailasa were being ‘persecuted’ and that Nithyananda is not allowed to enter India.
Nithyananda has been accused of rape, torture, and child kidnapping, and was being investigated by the Gujarat police before he fled the country in 2020. He also has a non-bailable warrant against him from a Karnataka sessions court after being accused of rape. Based on a complaint by his former driver Lenin in 2010, Nithyananda was arrested but was later released on bail. However, the bail was cancelled after Lenin filed a petition in 2020 pointing out that Nithyananda had fled the country.
Meanwhile, international law enforcement agency Interpol denied issuing a Blue Corner notice (a notice issued to collect more details about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime) to Nithyananda. However, the Gujarat police stated that such a notice has been issued to collect more details about him. When TNM reached out to Kamariya who is currently DySP of Gujarat State Monitoring Cell, he claimed that a Blue Corner notice was issued but was retracted for the issuance of a Red Corner notice (issued against fugitives wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence) against Nithyananda.