A MAOIST cult leader appeared in court yesterday to face charges of rape and child cruelty which he allegedly committed over a 30-year period. 

Seventy four-year-old Aravindan Balakrishnan was charged with 25 offences, which also included false imprisonment and indecent assault.

He was arrested at a house in south London in November last year, where, it is alleged, he had kept three women in domestic servitude since January 1980.

Prosecutor Tony Connell told Westminster magistrates that Mr Balakrishnan’s alleged offences were “sometimes rapes, sometimes oral sex, sometimes indecent touching.”

Mr Balakrishnan also faces a separate charge of child cruelty relating to incidents that took place between January 6 1983 and January 7 1999.

The charge states that he “wilfully ill-treated, assaulted, and neglected” a child in a manner “likely to cause unnecessary suffering to the said child or injury to its health.”

His lawyer Adam Wiseman indicated that Mr Balakrishnan — labelled “comrade Bala” by fellow cult members — would plead not guilty to the alleged offences.

Mr Balakrishnan, of Latymer Road, Edmonton, north London, spoke only to confirm his name, age and address during the brief 20-minute hearing.

He stood alone in the dock dressed in a blue waterproof jacket and was forced to repeat his date of birth after initially telling the court the wrong date.

District Judge Howard Riddle said the case against Mr Balakrishnan involved “manifestly serious allegations” as the next hearing was set for Southwark Crown Court in London on December 31.

Mr Balakrishnan was released on bail with conditions.