CHENNAI: Taking into account the serious nature of certain allegations against the Isha Yoga Foundation, the Madras HC on Monday sought details of all the criminal cases registered against the foundation.
The court issued the direction while hearing a habeas corpus petition by S Kamaraj, retired professor of TN Agricultural University, seeking to free his two daughters detained at Isha Centre.
A division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and V Sivagnanam sought the case details following the submission of the petitioner’s counsel M Purushothaman that a doctor attached to the centre was accused of molesting students and is facing a criminal case under the Pocso Act.
The petitioner alleged his daughters – the elder one holding a PG degree from a foreign university and the younger a software engineer – were brainwashed after they went for yoga classes and have been detained in the centre.
Both the girls, present in the court, had said they have been staying out of volition and are not under any compulsion; they also spoke ill of their parents.
On seeing the photographs of the marriage of Isha founder Jaggi Vasudev’s daughter and the tonsured heads of the two daughters of the petitioner, the bench asked why he has been preaching the women to tonsure heads and renounce worldly life while he married off his own daughter.
Warrant issued against witness in Balaji case
Chennai: Minister for Electricity and Prohibition and Excise V Senthil Balaji appeared before the Principal Sessions and Special Court for PMLA Cases in money-laundering case. The prosecution witness, an official of forensic department, was to be cross examined but he did not appear. The judge ordered a warrant against the witness.
Justice Shamim Ahmed sworn in as HC judge
Chennai: Justice Shamim Ahmed was sworn in as a judge of the Madras HC on Monday. Chief Justice KR Shriram administered him the oath of office. He was recently transferred from the Allahabad High Court to Madras High Court. Advocate General PS Raman and office-bearers of Bar Council welcomed him.