This is days after the Madras High Court rapped Isha Foundation and its founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, asking why they "encouraged" women to live a life of hermitess. On Wednesday, the organisation said it doesn't ask people to take up monkhood or 'sannyasa'.
The Coimbatore-based Isha Foundation in a statement on Wednesday said it is home to thousands who are not monks or sanyasis and a few are monks and practising brahmacharis.
The statement by the Foundation came after the Tamil Nadu Police conducted a detailed investigation in the ashram on Tuesday following a Madras High Court order to investigate the activities of the Isha Foundation.
"Sadhguru founded the Isha Foundation to impart yoga and spirituality to people. We believe that adult individual human beings have the freedom and wisdom to choose their path," it added.
The Isha group said that they do not pressure people to opt for marriage or take up monkhood as these were individual choices.
"Despite this, the petitioner wanted the monks to be produced before the court and the monks presented themselves before the court. They have clearly said that they are staying at the Isha Foundation on their own volition. We hope the truth will prevail and that there is an end to all the unnecessary controversies created."
A team of 150 cops from the Coimbatore police led by District Superintendent K. Karthikeyan conducted an inquiry on Tuesday at the Isha Foundation on charges of two women being kept under captivity.
The Madras High Court had asked the state government and Coimbatore rural police to investigate all allegations against the Isha Foundation.
A retired Professor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, S Kamaraj, had filed a habeas corpus petition before the Madras High Court stating his two daughters, Geetha Kamaraj and Latha Kamaraj, were detained at the Isha Foundation and prayed that the court intervene to help them return home.
He also urged the court stating that before that he received a phone call from his elder daughter stating that his younger daughter told her earlier that she would fast unto death if their father did not desist his legal moves against the Isha foundation.
He feared the death of his daughters. Therefore, he made an appeal to the court to intervene in the matter and bring back his daughters home.
The case was heard by Justice S. M. Subramaniam and Justice V. Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court. Upon meeting and interacting with the daughters of the petitioner, they decided to dig more into this case and examine it further.
Justice Subramaniam says the court exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution was obligated to do complete justice and get to the bottom of the case.
The court says why a man whose daughter is married is asking other women to become a hermitess.
The court further directed the Additional public prosecutor E. Raj Thilak to submit a status report on October 4 listing all cases registered against the Isha Foundation.
In reply to the argument made by petitioner's lawyer M Purushothaman that there were several cases regarding the Isha Foundation and a doctor serving in the organisation, who was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act, the court stated that it did not address the merits of different cases but whether the PIL was maintainable.
Read also| PM Modi Extends Peaceful and Hopeful Jewish New Year Wishes to 'Friend' Netanyahu
Read also| Jaishankar to US Think Tank: 'India Has the Right to Comment on Your Internal Affairs'
