Isha Foundation, the non-profit spiritual organisation founded by popular spiritual guru Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev - moved the Supreme Court challenging Madras High Court order that had asked the Tamil Nadu Police to probe criminal cases against it.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Isha Foundation of Jaggi Vasudev, sought a stay on the Madras HC order, telling the Supreme Court that 500 policemen raided the organisation and are probing every corner.
The Supreme Court said police will file before it the status report, as directed by Madras High Court. The Madras HC habeas corpus petition filed by a man alleging illegal confinement of his daughters at the Isha Foundation, the plea which prompted the probe, has also been transferred to the Supreme Court.
The top court, however, directed police to not take any further action in pursuance to the High Court direction.
Isha Foundation Case Explained
What's The Case
The Supreme Court hearing pertains to a plea filed by a petitioner, a retired professor from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University of Coimbatore, who alleged that the Isha Foundation had kept his daughters in illegal confinement, saying that the organisation was abusing certain persons, by brainwashing and converting them as monks and not even allowing their parents and relatives to meet them.
Both his daughters are masters of Engineering, according to a news agency PTI report.
The situation inside the institution was also widely criticized by the petitioner in the plea. The petition also reportedly mentioned about a doctor, working at the very same institution, against who a criminal case under POCSO has been registered. The allegation against the said person was that he molested 12 girls studying in the Adivasi Government School, the bench added.
What Madras HC Said On Sadhguru
When the matter was taken up on Monday, September 30, asked why a man like Jaggi Vasudev, who had himself married off his only daughter, had encouraged young women to renounce the worldly life and live the life of "hermitess".
"We want to know why a person who had given his daughter in marriage and made her settle well in life is encouraging the daughters of others to tonsure their heads and live the life of a hermitess," an NDTV report quoted Justice Sivagnanam as saying.
The Isha Foundation claimed that the women choose to stay with them voluntarily, the report said.
"We believe that adult individuals have the freedom and wisdom to choose their paths. We do not impose marriage or monkhood, as these are personal choices. The Isha Yoga Centre accommodates thousands who are not monks, alongside a few who have embraced Brahmacharya or monkhood," the report quoted the foundation as saying.
The bench said the petitioner shall produce the details of criminal cases registered against the institution and the Additional Public Prosecutor also shall collect all those case details and place them before us for further consideration.
Isha Foundation's Response
In response to the petition, Isha Foundation denied allegations that it advocated monkhood or asked people to get married, as these were individual choices.
"Isha Foundation was founded by Sadhguru to impart yoga and spirituality to people. We believe that adult individual human beings have the freedom and the wisdom to choose their path," news agency PTI cited lines from foundation's statement.
It was home to thousands who were not monks and a few who have taken Brahmacharya or monkhood, the statement said, adding that despite this, the petitioner wanted the monks to be produced before the court and the monks have presented themselves before the court.
"They have clearly stated that they are staying in Isha Yoga Center on their own volition. Now that the matter is seized by the court, we hope truth will prevail and there is an end to all unnecessary controversies," the statement read.
It claimed that the petitioner and others tried to trespass into the premises under a false pretext of being a fact-finding committee to enquire about the crematorium being constructed by the foundation and they had filed a criminal complaint against the foundation.
The High Court later had granted a stay on submission of the final report by the police.
"Apart from this, there is no other criminal case against the Foundation. Whoever indulges in spreading false information against the foundation will be strictly dealt with as per the law of the land," it said.
