New Delhi: A battalion of 150 police officers, led by an Assistant Deputy Superintendent rank officer from Coimbatore, launched a search operation at Isha Foundation’s ashram in Thondamuthur on Tuesday, a day after the Madras High Court sought a report on all criminal cases registered against the foundation. The search operation by the police also comprises three DSPs. A senior police officer said the operation is focusing on a thorough verification of inmates and the search of rooms at the foundation, The Indian Express reported.
The Isha Yoga Centre said what was happening was only an inquiry. “As per the court order, the police, including the SP, have come to the Isha Yoga Center for a general inquiry. They are inquiring with residents and volunteers, understanding the lifestyle, understanding how they come in and stay, etc,” it said in a statement.
The court had ordered the Coimbatore Rural Police to conduct an enquiry and file a report while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Dr S Kamaraj, a retired professor, claiming that his two daughters, Geetha Kamaraj (42) and Latha Kamaraj (39), were being held captive at the foundation in Coimbatore. He alleged that the organisation was brainwashing individuals, converting them into monks, and restricting their contact with their families.
The court questioned the apparent contradictions in the life of godman Jaggi Vasudev, the founder of Isha Foundation. Justices S M Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam asked why Sadhguru, as Jaggi is known among his followers, whose own daughter was married and well-settled, was encouraging other young women to shave their heads, renounce worldly life, and live as hermits at his yoga centres.
When Kamaraj’s petition said his two daughters were being held against their will at the organisation’s yoga centre in the foothills of Velliangiri, Coimbatore, both women, who were present in court, submitted that they were staying at the centre of their own volition and denied any form of compulsion or detention.
Kamaraj’s petition detailed the professional accomplishments of his daughters before they joined the foundation. His elder daughter, a postgraduate in mechatronics from a prestigious university in the UK, had been earning a substantial salary before divorcing her husband in 2008, the petition states. Following the divorce, she began attending yoga classes at the foundation. The younger daughter, a software engineer, soon followed her sister, eventually deciding to stay at the centre permanently, the petition states. The petition alleges that the foundation administered food and medicines to his daughters that dulled their cognitive faculties, leading them to sever all ties with their family, the report added.
“Now, the grievances of the petitioner is that the foundation is abusing certain persons, by brainwashing and converting them as monks and not even allowing the parents and relatives to meet the inmate monks. The situation inside the institution is also widely criticised by the petitioner in the present petition,” states the court order.
The petition also spoke about a POCSO case against a doctor working at the foundation. “The petitioner in person would submit that even recently a criminal case under POCSO has been registered against a doctor, who is working in the very same institution. The allegation against the said person was that he molested 12 girls studying in the Adivasi Government School,” the order states.
Although Kamaraj’s daughters insisted that their stay at Isha was voluntary, Justices Subramaniam and Sivagnanam were not entirely convinced. “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. That is the doubt,” Justice Sivagnanam remarked during the proceedings.
The counsel representing Isha Foundation, K Rajendra Kumar, said that adults have the right to make their own decisions about their lives, including the choice to embrace a spiritual path. He argued that the court’s inquiry into such personal decisions was unnecessary, as the women were clearly acting of their own free will.
Justice Subramaniam however said, “You will not understand because you are appearing for a particular party. But this court is neither for nor against anybody. We only want to do justice to the litigants before us.” The judges also spoke about the apparent hostility between the daughters and their parents. Justice Subramaniam told the daughters, “You claim to be on the path of spirituality. Don’t you think that neglecting your parents is a sin? ‘Love all and hate none’ is the principle of devotion but we could see so much hatred in you for your parents. You are not even addressing them respectfully.”
The petitioner’s counsel, M Purushothaman, argued that criminal cases involving the Isha Foundation had been filed in the past, suggesting a pattern of misconduct and legal violations. Despite the daughters’ statements and the defence put forth by the Isha Foundation, the court took the matter a step further, directing Additional Public Prosecutor E Raj Thilak to submit a comprehensive status report by October 4. This report is expected to include all criminal cases pending against the foundation.
The Isha Foundation, meanwhile, said that they “do not ask people to get married or take up monkhood; these are individual choices”. It said the Isha Yoga Center hosts many individuals, and only a few have chosen monkhood. Addressing the habeas corpus petition, the foundation noted that the petitioner sought the monks to be presented before the court, which they did, affirming that their stay at the centre was voluntary, according to the report.
“Previously, this very petitioner, along with others, tried trespassing into our premises on the false pretext of being a fact-finding committee to enquire about the facts surrounding the crematorium being constructed by Isha Foundation and then filed a criminal complaint against the people of Isha Yoga Center. Against this, the Hon’ble High Court of Madras has granted a stay on submission of the final report by the police. Apart from this, there is no other criminal case against the foundation,” the foundation’s statement reads.
