London: A violent Maoist cult leader is under trial for sexually abusing his brainwashed female followers and imprisoning his own daughter in homes across south London for over three decades.
Aravindan Balakrishnan, 75, used fear, sexual degradation and physical and mental violence to keep the women under his control, turning his commune based on Communist teachings into his own personal cult, British prosecutors said on Thursday.
Balakrishnan bullied and beat his own daughter, who was born to one of his women followers. She was barely allowed to leave the four walls of her house, never went to school play with friends or see a doctor, the Brtish Court was told.
She was not told who her mother and father were, and when she finally escaped his clutches two years ago, she was aged 30 and very ill with diabetes, said prosecutor Rosina Cottage.
Cottage also said that the accused subjugated women under his control through brutal and calculated manipulation.
“Each woman lived a life of violence, fear, isolation and confinement. They were forced into sexual acts over which they had no choice and were deliberately degrading and humiliating. He seemed to exult in his power over them,” she said.
Balakrishnan was the head of a Communist group in the 1970s called the Worker's League in south London, a charismatic and energetic speaker who attracted students and followers with his plan for world revolution and to overthrow what he saw as Britain's fascist state.
