New Delhi:
In big relief for spiritual leader Sadhguru, the Supreme Court today paused a Madras High Court order that had asked Tamil Nadu police to investigate cases filed against his Isha Foundation. The top court took over the case and asked the police to file a status report.
The bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, was hearing Isha Foundation’s challenge against the high court order after hundreds of cops entered its premises in Coimbatore Tuesday.
The high court’s probe order had come after retired professor S Kamaraj filed a petition, alleging that his daughters Geeta and Lata were “brainwashed to reside at Isha Yoga Centre” in Coimbatore. He alleged that the foundation did not allow them to maintain contact with their family.
Isha Foundation denied the allegations and said the two women — aged 42 and 39 — had been staying at its premises willingly. The two women were produced in the high court, where they confirmed this.
Isha Foundation also said the petitioner and others tried to trespass under the pretext of being members of a fact-finding committee.
Hearing the matter today, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud noted that a doctor at the Foundation’s Ashram was recently charged with child abuse under the stringent POCSO Act and said the probe must continue. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Isha Foundation, said the alleged incidents did not happen on its campus.
The Chief Justice then asked if the two women were online so that the bench, also comprising Justice JB Pardiwala, could speak to them. Mr Rohatgi said they were.
The Chief Justice then noted, “The first thing is that you cannot let an army of police in the establishment like this… what we will do is ask a judicial officer to visit the premises, and talk to these two inmates.”
One of the women appeared before the court virtually and reiterated that they were staying at the ashram willingly. She alleged that their father had been harassing them for the past eight years.
Noting that this was a habeas corpus petition, the Chief Justice said, “We would like to hear both monks in the chamber and come back in five minutes.”
The Chief Justice later said the women had told them that they joined the Ashram when they were 24 and 27, respectively, and were living there willingly. The court also noted that the mother of the two women had filed a similar petition eight years back.