NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has sought assistance from retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi on a matter concerning the welfare of women living in an ashram founded by self-styled spiritual preacher Virender Dev Dixit.
The court, which had earlier constituted a committee under her supervision to monitor the functioning of the ashram Adhyatmik Vidhyalaya, Rohini directed that the former L-G of Puducherry be informed about the listing of the matter on October 7.
In an order passed recently, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said, “Ms. Kiran Bedi is requested to assist this Court in the matter on the next date of hearing.” “Learned Counsel appearing for the Delhi Commission for Women undertakes to inform Ms. Kiran Bedi about the listing of the present case on October 7, 2022. The Registrar General shall also inform Ms. Kiran Bedi about listing of the matter on October 7, 2022,” it said.
In 2017, an NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment had moved the high court alleging that several minors and women were allegedly being illegally confined at the “spiritual university” and were not allowed to meet their parents.
The high court had then asked the CBI to trace the founder of the ashram Dixit and directed the agency to probe the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram where it was claimed they were kept in “animal-like” conditions behind metal doors in a “fortress” surrounded by barbed wire.