Girls ‘not in detention’ at Isha Foundation

The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed the plea after holding that “there is absolutely no material available on record to even remotely infer that they have been illegally detained.” A division bench comprising Justice S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidhasan on going through the report filed by Principal District Sessions Judge R Pongiappan after visiting the ashram and meeting the girls, said: “The PDJ has categorically mentioned in his report that there is no truth in the allegation and that the detenus are staying at the foundation on their own will. We are prima facie satisfied that the girls are staying at Isha Foundation on their volition and there is no illegal detention.” 

The bench pointed out that the siblings — Geetha and Latha — were majors and that the parents had even ceased to be their guardians, noted that the parents were at liberty to visit their daughters with due intimation to Isha Foundation. However, noting that they should not be a hindrance to the ashram’s peace, it held that except parents others were not allowed to visit them. The plea had claimed that Geetha (34) and Latha (31), who now go by the names Maa Mathi and Maa Mayu, were being detained in the yoga centre against their will. 

The plea also submitted that Geetha, a former employee of Sheiffeld Hallam University in England, had started visiting Isha Foundation to practise yoga after her marriage broke in 2008. Subsequently, her sister Latha who used to accompany her got oriented to the ashram and both became full time workers in 2013. The father who was present in the court claimed that the food and medicines supplied in the ashram had led them to being brainwashed.