The Supreme Court on Thursday effectively halted the police probe into the alleged illegal confinement of two women at spiritual leader Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation ashram at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
Transferring to itself a habeas corpus petition of a man alleging that his two daughters were held captive inside the premises of the Foundation, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed the Tamil Nadu police to not take any further action in pursuance of the Madras high court's direction asking it to inquire into the alleged illegal confinement of the women.
"You can't let in the Army or the police into an establishment like this," the bench observed during the hearing.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the police shall file the status report, as directed by the high court in its September 30 order, before the top court.
The apex court passed the order after the Isha Foundation approached it challenging the high court's order directing the Coimbatore police to collect all case details registered against the Foundation and produce them before the court for further consideration.
"We welcome intervention by hon'ble Supreme Court in the case. Since the matter is sub judice, we will not be able to comment further," Isha Foundation said in a statement.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Foundation, sought a stay of the high court order, and said around 150 police officials have entered the Foundation's ashram and are probing every corner.
The bench, which interacted with the two women in-chambers through video-conferencing, noted they have stated that both of them are residing at the ashram voluntarily and without any coercion.
"As regards the presence of police, in pursuance to the order of the high court, it has been stated by the two individuals that the police left the premises last night, though they were there... in pursuance of the order of the high court," the bench noted.
While taking up the habeas corpus petition, the bench permitted the father of the two women to appear before it through video-conferencing if he wishes to interact with the court in person or through counsel.
"The police shall not take any further action in pursuance of the directions issued in paragraph four of the impugned order dated September 30, 2024, save and except for the submission of the status report to this court," the bench said.
"The status report, which was directed by the high court to be filed by the police, shall be submitted before this court," it said and posted the matter for further hearing on October 18.
The bench noted that during the course of interaction with the two women, both the individuals have stated that they joined the ashram at the age of 24 and 27 years respectively.
It said the text of the high court's order indicated that they are presently 42 and 39 years old respectively.
The bench noted the two women have stated that they are free to travel outside the ashram, which they had done from time to time and their parents have also visited there to meet them.
It further noted that one of the two individuals have stated that she had also participated in a marathon held at Hyderabad.
The apex court noted it was submitted before it that a similar petition was filed by the mother of the two individual about eight years ago, in which the father had also appeared.
It noted that as per the Foundation's counsel, filing of the second habeas corpus petition ought not to have been entertained on these facts, particularly having regard to the age, maturity and volition of the two women.
A habeas corpus petition is filed seeking direction to produce before the court a person who is missing or has been illegally detained.
The bench also noted it was stated by the Foundation's counsel that during the interaction before the high court, both the women had stated they were staying in the ashram voluntarily and without any coercion.
"During the course of the hearing, we were of the view that it will be appropriate for this court to interact with both the individuals concerned, which we have done in a chamber hearing online," the bench said.
The bench was informed that the two women were present in the court through video-conferencing.
The bench briefly interacted with one of the women in the open court and asked, "You are aware of the fact that your father has filed a habeas corpus petition?"
The women responded, "Yes. We had appeared in the high court for the same and we had explained that we are here at Isha Yoga Centre by our own will."
The judges, who said they would interact with both of them in-chambers, went into their chambers and assembled for the hearing after few minutes.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, said the high court should have been "very circumspect".
The high court had on September 30 passed an interim order on a habeas corpus petition filed by Dr S Kamaraj, who sought a direction to the police to produce his two daughters, whom he alleged were held captive inside the Isha Foundation before the court and set them at liberty.
The petitioner was a retired professor from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. He has two daughters and both had masters in Engineering. Both of them joined the Isha Foundation.
The grievances of the petitioner was that the Foundation was abusing certain persons by brainwashing and converting them as monks and not even allowing their parents and relatives to meet them.
