Madras HC directs dt judge to probe Isha yoga centre

Chennai: The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the Principal District Judge, Coimbatore to visit “Isha Foundation” in Coimbatore, which offers yoga programmes and find out whether two young women have been detained there illegally or not and file a report on August 12.

A division bench comprising Justices S.Nagamuthu and V.Bharathidasan gave the directive on a habeas corpus petition filed by K.Sathiajothi, the mother of the two women, alleging that her daughters were illegally detained by the Isha Foundation.

Sathiajothi submitted that her two daughters, aged 34 and 31 respectively were engineering graduates. Her elder daughter, after her marriage broke up in 2008 started attending the yoga programmes offered by the Isha Foundation. Later, her second daughter also joined her. Initially, there was no problem for them. Later on, they became full time workers in Isha Foundation, headed by Yoga Guru Jaggi Vasudev.

Now, her daughters have been brainwashed and they were kept out of the eyes of her and family members. When, they made attempts to meet them, they were not allowed to meet them, she alleged.

The bench said, in its considered view it was a disputed question of fact whether the detenues were really detained illegally in the Isha Foundation or they were staying on their own volition.  

“In our considered view, simply acting on the allegations made by the petitioner, we cannot direct the Isha Foundation to produce the detenues before this court so as to expose them. Such production of the detenue before this court may amount to invasion into the modesty and privacy of the individuals. Therefore, without harming their modesty and their privacy, the facts have to be verified. Similarly, such verification should not cause any harm, either physical or mental, to the other inmates of the Foundation”, the bench added.

The bench directed the PDJ, Coimbatore to visit the Isha Foundation to meet the detenues, record their statements and the statement of anybody else if need be and to submit a detailed report expressing his opinion as to whether the detenues were in fact detained illegally or not.

The bench said it was brought to its notice that other complaints were also pending with the police in respect of few other persons, who were residing in the Isha Foundation. The police was therefore directed to furnish the details of those persons also to the PDJ, who shall record their statements also and submit a detailed report.