Swami Agnivesh justifies urine punishment for WB school girl

As condemnation poured in from across the country over allegations that the warden of a hostel in the Vishva Bharati University forced a student to consume her own urine, social activist Swami Agnivesh justified the punishment and said he had followed a similar treatment for his own bed wetting problem.

“Why is there so much fuss made about the suggestion given to Visva-Bharati’ Patha Bhavan school girl who was suggested to consume her own urine by her hostel warden, Uma Poddar, as cure for bed wetting?” Agnivesh said in a statement.

“It is a simple piece of advice by the hostel warden, which has created so much ruckus by the girl’s parents and then by the media,” he said.

Agnivesh said he had a bed wetting problem well into adulthood and had used the traditional cure while he was in prison when Emergency was imposed in India.

“For many, the traditional cure may sound abhorrent and and feudal. I practised it myself for months. I read books on nature cure and found this method described. I had this problem of bed wetting till quite an advanced age. ‘Shivambu Cure’ helped reduce it,” he said in the statement.

The warden of the hostel was arrested after the parents of the girl filed a complaint with the police against her. She has been suspended from the school, and many people, including family members of the late Rabindranath Tagore have called for her dismissal.