The Supreme Court on Friday, closed the habeas corpus petition filed against Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Yoga centre at Coimbatore, by S. Kamaraj, father of two women monks residing at the centre alleging that his daughters were illegally detained against their will.
While dismissing the petition based on the statements made by the two women - aged 42 and 39, the Supreme Court said that institutions cannot be maligned by court proceedings.
The bench comprising Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in their order said that the purpose of Habeas Corpus is fulfilled.
“Since both of them are adults and the purpose of habeas corpus was fulfilled, no further directions are needed from the high court,” the bench said in the order passed on Friday.
The bench also noted that it rejected the petition claiming unlawful detention as both Geetha and Latha were adults when they joined the ashram and of their “own free will,” Justice Chandrachud said.
The bench also said that “no further directions were needed” as the purpose of the habeas corpus was fulfilled by the two daughters appearing in the High Court. In his remarks in the court, the Chief Justice also said that such proceedings cannot be used as it could “malign people and institutions”.
The case relates to a habeas corpus filed by S. Kamaraj, for which the Madras High Court had asked police and the revenue officials to inspect the Isha Yoga Centre premises at Coimbatore and file a status report.
A day after 150 police personnel and revenue officials entered the premises to conduct an inspection. The Supreme Court, after hearing a petition filed by Isha Foundation, transferred to itself the case heard by the Madras High Court and issued a stay to an order but the latter directed the police to investigate the case based on Kamaraj’s allegations.
Earlier on Thursday, a 739-page special leave petition was filed by the government along with the police statutes report, in the Supreme Court. The report had the handwritten statements of Maa Mathi and Maa Mayu (Geetha and Latha), the two daughters of petitioner Kamaraj.
Mathi and Maayu in their testimonial had stated that their parents visited them very often, brought ice creams for the inmates and the other monks and even blessed the other monks at the ashram during their visit. They also stated that no one forced them and they are residing at the ashram by their own will.
The Coimbatore police status report and the special leave also had several other annexures from 152 employees and staff, 81 workers, 179 volunteers, 33 monks, 44 families and 42 guests at the ashram premises.
Mostly handwritten statements written after police enquiry stated that all of them were residing there at their own will and they had the freedom to live their life. The statements also said that they were leading a happy and peaceful life at the ashram and no one forced them to do anything.
The Coimbatore police status report, filed by K. Karthikeyan, Superintendent of Police, Coimbatore, gave details of the cases registered against Isha Foundation in the past 15 years.
The 23-page report listed the six missing cases registered against the foundation, in the Alandurai Police Station range. The report said that five out of the six cases were closed as further action was dropped and that one case is still under investigation. The missing person has not yet been traced.
The police report also listed the details of the POCSO case registered by a local school principal against a doctor who was employed by Isha Outreach, which is still under investigation. The doctor has been arrested and is still in prison as he was denied bail.
The report also mentioned the details of a case filed by a woman at the Saket police station in Delhi in 2021. It is a sexual assault complaint in which an FIR was filed and transferred to the Coimbatore police. But the complaint was later withdrawn by the woman herself.
According to the police report, there were 217 Brahmacharis, 2,455 volunteers, 891 paid staff, 1475 paid workers, 342 Isha Home School students, 175 Isha Samskriti students, 704 volunteers and 912 guests residing in cottages at the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore on October 1, when they visited the premises for investigation as per the Madras High Court order.