‘Women living by their own free will’: SC shuts case against Isha Foundation in habeas corpus plea
The bench said its decision does not prevent the police from proceeding with other investigations against the group, founded by preacher Jaggi Vasudev.
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The Supreme Court on Friday closed the proceedings in a habeas corpus petition filed by a man who claimed that his two daughters were being held captive inside the premises of preacher Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation centre in Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said that the two women were adults and living at the foundation of their own free will. The purpose of the petition was fulfilled after the women made it clear that they wanted to live inside the premises, it added.
A habeas corpus is a petition through which courts can order the authorities to bring a person before it to verify if they have been detained.
The petition was filed by a retired professor named S Kamaraj in the Madras High Court. He claimed that his two daughters – 42-year-old Geetha Kamaraj and 39-year-old Latha Kamaraj – were being held captive by the Isha Foundation.
Kamaraj alleged that the foundation was brainwashing individuals, converting them into monks and restricting their contact with families.
The High Court on September 30 sought details of the criminal cases filed against the Isha Foundation and directed the Tamil Nadu Police to conduct an inquiry in the matter. A day later, nearly...
