On Tuesday, November 28, 2023, the French police carried out a large raid against an international tantric yoga sect, the Atman federation, and arrested dozens of its executives for human trafficking, indoctrination and kidnapping. Among them is his guru, Gregorian Bivolaru, a Romanian who pushed female followers to sleep with him for supposed spiritual elevation. Our correspondent in India, Sébastien Farcis, investigated for two months and spoke with several victims. He reveals how this sect operates.

From our correspondent in India, 

The music is soft and soaring. Sunset light radiates the room, located on top of a hotel in Rishikesh, a holy city in northern India. In the center of the room, around fifty young people in casual clothes advance with their eyes closed, one after the other, in an aisle formed by their companions. With a hesitant step, everyone then lets themselves be caressed by the hands of the other practitioners. “  Connect with your feelings, disconnect your mind and feel the loving energies of others  ,” encourages the teacher, Purusha Ananda, dressed in a red tunic. This “  angel walk  ” represents the first exercise of a tantric yoga class, offered by the Mahasiddha school. An introductory session to encourage these young people to follow a three-day course, which begins the next morning: “  erotic energy is the source of our inner power ,” explains the teacher in a suave voice. And I will teach you how to control this energy to make love better, and to purify your emotions to transcendence and communion with God  .” 

The master's sexual gratification

This proposition seems tempting. But it hides a darker face: that of a sect of tantrism, the Atman federation, which pushes hundreds of young women towards unbridled sexual relations. 

by Arundathie Abeysinghe  courtesy PIME Asia News 

An organised crime cartel allegedly brought 13 children ‘regularly’ from Sri Lanka to Malaysia and from there, using false documents, they were trafficked to the rest of the world, including Europe. The chairman of the National Child Protection Authority, Udayakumara Amarasinghe: ‘Parents are given a certain amount of money to take them abroad even though this is a criminal offence’.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – Last week the Sri Lankan immigration and emigration control body filed a formal complaint with the human trafficking, smuggling and maritime crime investigation division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) regarding an alleged ‘cartel’ of human trafficking – in particular children under 18 years of age, mostly Tamil citizens from the northern and eastern areas – who were allegedly brought to Malaysia.

Having arrived in the South-East Asian country “in a regular fashion” and often accompanied by their parents who receive money in exchange, traffickers would provide them with false passports with which these children would then be sold in other countries including France and the United Kingdom using counterfeit travel documents.

The police suspect that over 10 infants have been sold by the gang till now to childless couples.

While the investigations into the child trafficking case in Bengaluru has led to the arrest of three more people in the city, the police have stumbled upon details of an organised crime and said doctors, hospitals and IVF centres may have been a part of the interstate racket.

The police suspect that over 10 infants have been sold by the gang till now to childless couples.

According to the police, a newborn girl used to be sold at Rs 4-5 lakh while a male child fetched Rs 8-10 lakh. Prices dropped for infants of darker complexions.

Among the three new arrestees are Suhasini, Radha and Gomathi, all residents of Erode in Tamil Nadu. The police had earlier arrested Mahalakshmi, Kannan Ramaswamy, Hemalatha, Murugeshwari and Saranya.

Yung Fierens was adopted from South Korea, adoption expert and chairman of the adoption interest group CAFE.

YUNG FIERENS 29 november 2023, 17:02

The lid has once again fallen off the adoption chair. Two years after an expert panel came to devastating conclusions about transnational adoption conditions, the establishment of a project group that had to bend over policy proposals, and even some of these proposed reforms came into existence, we are once again faced with an adoption scandal.

Research showed that several children from Ethiopia were not voluntarily given up by their parents but ended up in Flemish adoptive families through child trafficking. It concerns adoptions that took place between 1996 and 2017.

The Flemish Center for Adoption (VCA) now calls on all adopted people who have doubts about the legality of their adoption to contact us.

Kinderen in extreme nood een warme thuis geven, dat lukt soms alleen via interlandelijke adoptie.

Kinderen in extreme nood een warme thuis geven, dat lukt soms alleen via interlandelijke adoptie. — © nyt

Als interlandelijke adoptie stopt, blokkeer je voor veel kinderen de weg naar een beter leven, schrijft Christine Gonnissen.

Vandaag om 03:00Christine GonnissenVoorzitter van VIA vzw de fusie van adoptieorganisaties FIAC-Horizon en Ray of Hope.

French authorities arrest Misa leader in major raid over claims of organised kidnapping, rape and abuse

French authorities have arrested the leader of a multinational tantric yoga organisation on suspicion of indoctrinating women for sexual exploitation.

The Romanian guru was detained on Tuesday morning during a major police operation across the Paris region, according to a French judicial official, who was not authorised to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation.

The French official identified the man as Gregorian B, whom French media identified as Gregorian Bivolaru, 71, an internationally known yoga teacher and author.

The investigation into Bivolaru and his yoga federation, the Movement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute (Misa), began after reports of psychological manipulation and sexual exploitation within the organisation, according to the official. Former Misa members alerted authorities to the alleged abuses.

COCHI: In the petition filed by the parents seeking permission to return their adopted daughter, the High Court directed the amicus curiae to suggest measures to ensure psychological support to the girl. Justice Devan Ramachandran said that the girl who was abandoned by those who gave birth to her is now being abandoned by the ones who adopted her as well and the child is in a very bad situation

The High Court was considering the petition filed by the couple from Thiruvananthapuram that the girl adopted from an ashram in Ludhiana is not getting along with them and that the adoption should be cancelled and the child should be returned. Earlier, Adv Parvathy Menon was appointed as amicus curiae in the petition. The amicus curiae visited the girl in the care home and filed a report in the High Court yesterday. The report says that the girl is in a helpless state of isolation and a compassionate approach is essential. It was also pointed out that the girl needs psychological support, not psychiatric treatment. 

At this stage, the High Court verbally said that the desire of the court is for the girl to go to school and college and should consider getting admission to an open school for Plus Two. The single bench directed the amicus curiae to specify steps to be taken for the girl's welfare and adjourned the petition for hearing on Monday. 

The petitioners adopted the girl from Punjab after their son died in a car accident. The petitioners approached the High Court to cancel the adoption stating that the girl is unable to accept them as parents and is not ready to get along with them.

https://m.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20231127_96405019?fbclid=IwAR3wB3EelZsLLHnFtqUrlHPWHTmbCCyNhZpZprUuYYcn_Y2moM0IluNiPGE&articlehash=ZC2xNsL3M8lAPDaz9Cr5ZjaVdoNJy3kExz5CSJlO0D5xvF23In4ABhLnM9Ogyp7PVE3%2BsUL63AZJyjdaPubGcE2234kjpr8ZaQIqtUCXgjc3ZSEBenNf44V8KJtZ93aGKQLquzKzo7bu%2BSiobfMHKp08353KfSwxjauFO9%2B6h9%2BidujDKbNaKccfevB425NSfsTnRuqAPAXWPmknXqdHh5YcUH405635H76lD9X1gi3OMIoTZDRBsqTz39P352SotOY4q7dXD3P%2BUqU9iROI2aL6Nx0d145WJoD4IUpuiC9CRU%2Bo582mBNMOINc9ldmniUW2kogRUUcRAFvRMrXfzw%3D%3D

Vooruit MP Freya Van den Bossche is again calling for a temporary pause for intercountry adoptions. 'Only in this way can we tackle the difficulties.'

A screening of 12 adoption files from Ethiopia revealed last week that irregularities had occurred in at least some files: information on paper did not appear to correspond with reality. For example: parents in the country of origin had not voluntarily given up the children.

Flemish Member of Parliament Freya Van den Bossche (Vooruit) therefore repeats her plea for a temporary pause for intercountry adoptions. The expert panel appointed by the Flemish government already advocated this in September 2019. According to that panel, such a pause was necessary in order to thoroughly reform the intercountry adoption procedure.

Van den Bossche completely agrees with this. She has already interpellated the Ministers of Welfare about this several times, but neither Wouter Beke nor Hilde Crevits, both from CD&V, responded to that question. Beke said that he still saw a future in intercountry adoption and that you can also reform by doing. He gave the Flemish Center for Adoption (VCA) and the three adoption services two years to do so.

https://www.hln.be/binnenland/hln-onderzoek-eva-adopteerde-alex-10-vorig-jaar-uit-colombia-maar-doet-nu-schokkende-ontdekking-waarom-zweeg-iedereen-hierover~ad15bf9c/?fbclid=IwAR0FNxTqM4WOmpMsehO8G_KdLrs5UrNFFa_DSk8zhT8Noe48o5CRtTGJjB8&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fl.facebook.com%2F

Eva adopted Alex (10) from Colombia last year, but now makes a shocking discovery: “I cried when I read it”

A year ago, Eva landed in Zaventem with a Colombian boy. She drove home with Alex (10) very happy and since then she has cared for her adopted son with lots of love. Today the family's world is turned upside down, because Eva did a shocking discovery about Alex's history. “I am extremely angry and disappointed,” she says. “Why have the government and adoption agency been silent about this?”

At the table in her living room, Eva (31) nervously fiddles with the folders laid out in front of her. The pile is at least a foot high and contains documents that have recently shaken up her life. She waves her hands over her eyes, hoping her cheeks stay dry. “Sorry, but I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.” She fishes a small folder out of the stack, takes out one photo and holds it up in the air. I see a girl and a woman posing next to a cake. It's hard to believe that this innocent scene hurts Eva so much. And yet I see her cringe. To understand why, I have to take you to Colombia.

The CCB police arrested eight racketeers — seven women and one man — selling babies to childless couples for ₹8-10 lakh.

The Organised Crime Wing (OCW) of the Bengaluru City Police’s Central Crime Branch (CCB) has busted a child trafficking racket from Tamil Nadu and arrested a gang of eight — seven women and a man, their car driver.

The gang was apprehended when it was about to sell a 20-day-old baby boy to a childless couple in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in West Bengaluru on Friday, 24 November.

The CCB officials, who had credible information about the “deal”, had formed teams and were waiting near the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Temple on Friday evening for the gang members to make their move, a senior police officer told South First on Tuesday.

The CCB sleuths surrounded the car, in which three women and the driver were present with the baby, and rescued the infant.