Supreme Court Stays Madras High Court Order on Isha Foundation

The Supreme Court has put a stop to a Madras High Court order that requested the Tamil Nadu Police to report on criminal cases against Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the foundation, requested for an urgent hearing, and the apex court has accepted his request.

The Centre supported this request, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta commenting that the High Court should have been more careful.

The Supreme Court also took over a habeas corpus petition that claimed two young women were being held against their will by the foundation.

The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra questioned the two women privately through video conferencing before making a decision.

One of the women mentioned that their father had been harassing them for the past eight years.

The Supreme Court has prohibited the Tamil Nadu Police from taking any action based on the High Court’s orders and has asked them to report back to the Supreme Court instead.

Background of the Case

The Madras High Court was reviewing a petition from a retired professor who claimed that his two educated daughters, aged 42 and 39, had been influenced by Jaggi Vasudev to stay permanently at the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore.

The professor claimed that the centre was giving his daughters food and medicine that affected their thinking. However, the foundation said the daughters chose to stay there on their own.

A large team of about 150 police and government officials inspected the Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore to assess the conditions at the facility.

This inspection was led by the district superintendent of police, K Karthikeyan, along with the District Social Welfare Officer, R Ambika.

They conducted inquiries with people at the foundation during their visit.