Jailed for 18 months, spreading cheer among Indian-origin rationalists
Jailed for 18 months, spreading cheer among Indian-origin rationalists
Niem Mohammed, who reportedly owns a house worth 850,000 pounds in Cheshire, was found guilty at the Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday of three counts of fraud, seven of procuring a valuable security by deception and one of obtaining property by deception.
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The Asian community has been particularly vulnerable to the influence of charlatans, psychics, 'babas' and 'tantriks', who promise to cure all ills, remove spells and bring luck to those who believe in spells and occult practices.
Notably, Indian-origin rationalists have been campaigning against such practices for several years.
Delighted at the judicial verdict, Sach Dev Virdee, general secretary of the Asian Rationalist Society of Britain told PTI, "We challenge those who exploit vulnerable and desperate people under the name of faith healing to accept our challenge and win 100,000 pounds under our published conditions."
Mohammed's case was taken up by Sandwell-based officials after the local BBC showed a programme with the help of ASRB. The industry is estimated to be worth 40 million pounds.
Most Asian newspapers are full of advertisements offering their services . Britain recently repealed the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums Act, which harmonised trading laws across the EU as per the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.
This new trade laws mean that consumers can take traders to court if promises are not delivered. Faith healers, babas and tantriks also come under the purview of the new EU trade regulations.
Mohammed s is the first case in which a faith healer has been convicted and jailed for failing to deliver on the promises he made to clients.
Among his victims were a couple who could not conceive a child, a woman seeking the removal of a "black magic" spell and another woman seeking to trace her estranged son.
Passing sentence, Judge Jonathan Gosling said his victims had "plummeted into despair" while he enriched himself and added humiliation to their pain.
The judge told Mohammed: "You targeted vulnerable and desperate victims with promises which you knew you could not fulfil. You did it with bogus advertisements and outlandish guarantees - you used a veneer of holiness to get them to pay large sums of money that they couldn't afford."
A two-week trial was told that that some victims were encouraged to borrow money to pay for the services of Mohammed, who claimed to be able to lift spells, bring about reconciliation, resolve health problems and perform paranormal phenomena.
Mohammed told the jury that he had a gift passed down through generations. During his defence, the faith healer sat on the floor of the courtroom and assembled a miniature fire pit on top of a silver table to demonstrate techniques he uses to meditate and pray.
Sandwell Council's trading standards manager, Bob Robinson, said: "We are very pleased by the outcome of the trial and it proves we were fully justified in taking this action on behalf of people we felt had been duped.
"There were many people who were reluctant to come forward to help us bring this case, because of their religious beliefs and embarrassment about how it would be viewed in their community."
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