The Supreme Court today paused a Madras High Court order, asking Tamil Nadu police to investigate cases filed against spiritual leader Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation. The top court transferred the case to itself 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, following which hundreds of police personnel entered Isha Foundation’s premises in Coimbatore on Tuesday.
The high court’s direction came after retired professor S Kamaraj filed a petition, alleging that his two 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 any contact with their family.
Isha Foundation has denied the allegations and said the two women — aged 42 and 39 — had been staying at the foundation’s premises willingly. The two women were also produced in the high court, where they confirmed this.
Isha Foundation also said the petitioner and others tried to trespass into the premises under the pretext of being members of a fact-finding committee.
Hearing the matter, 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 at the ashram willingly. She alleged that their father had been harassing them for the past eight years.
Noting that this was a habeus 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.
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