The Madras High Court has sought details of criminal cases registered against the Isha Foundation, after a father approached the court against founder Jaggi Vasudev (Sadhguru) claiming that his two daughters were being brainwashed there.
The Madras High Court issued the said direction on the plea filed by a Scientist whose daughters have joined the Isha foundation.
A bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice V Sivagnanam called for details even after the alleged detainees (the two daughters) appeared before the court and submitted that they were residing at the foundation of their own volition and that they were not detained, the LiveLaw reported.
The court in its order noted that the two daughters had a masters level education in Engineering and joined Isha Foundation at Coimbatore.
"Now, the grievances of the petitioner is that the foundation is abusing certain persons, by brainwash 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 critisized by the petitioner in the present petition. The petitioner in person (father) 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 court noted in its order.
The court was told by the counsel for the petitioner that there are several other criminal cases registered and allegations are pending. Following this, the court sought details on criminal cases from the petitioner as well as the state government.
"In view of the serious nature of the allegations raised against the institution and the way and the manner in which the detenues have spoken before us, we could form an opinion that some more delebrations are required to understand the truth behind the allegations. Therefore, the petitioner shall produce the details of criminal cases registered against the institution and the learned Additional Public Prosecutor also shall collect all those case details and place before us for further consideration," the court ordered.