The Supreme Court on Thursday restrained the Tamil Nadu Police from taking any further action against the Isha Yoga Centre run by guru Jaggi Vasudev at Coimbatore pursuant to the Madras High Court directions and transferred the case from the Madras High Court to itself.
Asking the state police to submit a status report that was earlier sought by the high court, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra directed that “Police shall not take any further action in pursuance of directions in paragraph 4 of the high court’s order.”
The top court’s order came in the wake of an urgent hearing sought by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who appeared for the Isha Foundation, telling the bench that a police team of about 150 officers entered the Ashram for investigation following the high court’s directions.
The bench observed, “You cannot let police into an establishment like this.”
Supporting the plea by the Isha Foundation, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central government, said the high court should have been more circumspect.
The Madras High Court, on September 30, 2024, while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by a father alleging that his two daughters were being held captive in the Isha Yoga Centre and being brainwashed there, sought a report from the police on all criminal cases registered against the institution.
Approaching the top court, Rohatgi said the two women appeared before the high court and said they were staying in the Ashram on their own will.
Hearing the case, the bench interacted with both the sisters in the chamber virtually and after the interaction, Chief Justice Chandrachud said that the two women informed that they were staying at the Ashram voluntarily. The court noted that one of the women had participated in a marathon recently.
Chief Justice Chandrachud also said that they had been informed that the police team had left the Ashram last night.
The top court in its order recorded the statement made by the two women (who are 32 and 49 now) that they have been staying in the Ashram voluntarily since 2009 and their parents have visited them on several occasions.
Though, earlier, the daughters had appeared before the high court and said that they were staying in the ashram of their own volition, the court observed that there were serious allegations against the institution, and sought the details of the criminal cases against the Isha Foundation.
A habeas corpus petition was filed by a retired Prof. S Kamaraj from Coimbatore, before the high court, alleging that his two daughters were brainwashed and were living at the Isha Yoga Centre and foundation and they were not being allowed to remain in contact with the family.
Isha Foundation has denied the allegation.