The Supreme Court on Thursday (October 3) restrained the Tamil Nadu police from taking any further action against the Isha Yoga Centre run by spiritual leader Sadhguru at Coimbatore.
A three-judge bench presided by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud passed the stay order after the foundation approached the Supreme Court against a Madras High Court order directing the Tamil Nadu government to submit details of all criminal cases registered against them.
The Supreme Court transferred to itself the petition pending before the Madras High Court and further asked the Police to submit the status report to it. The matter will be next heard on October 18.
The Coimbatore Rural Police on Tuesday stormed into the Isha Foundation’s ashram with 150 personnel to conduct the investigation. It came a day after the Madras High Court sought a report on all criminal cases registered against the Foundation and ordered a probe.
Delivering the stay order, the apex court bench remarked, “You can’t let an army of police into an institution like this.”
What’s The Case Against Isha Foundation?
The Madras High Court ordered the probe after a retired professor S Kamaraj filed a petition, alleging that his daughters Geeta and Lata were “brainwashed to reside at Isha Yoga Centre” in Coimbatore. He further accused the foundation of not allowing them to maintain contact with the family.
During the hearing, the High Court expressed serious doubts about why Sadhguru had given his daughter in marriage and made her settle well in life but was encouraging other women to renounce their material life.
“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,” the Bench remarked.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter before the Supreme Court bench and said, “These are issues of religious freedom. This is a very urgent and serious case. This is about Isha Foundation, there is Sadhguru who is very revered and has lakhs of followers. High Court cannot start such enquiries on oral assertions.”