New Delhi, March 12 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed journalist and YouTuber Shyam Meera Singh to take down a video about Isha Foundation and its founder and spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev from all social media platforms, considering it per se defamatory.
The order comes in response to a defamation suit filed by Isha Foundation.
A bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad ordered Google LLC, X Corp and Meta platforms to take down the video titled “Sadhguru EXPOSED: What’s happening in Jaggi Vasudev’s Ashram” suggesting that minors were being exploited in Sadhguru’s ashram.
In its interim order, the Justice Prasad-led Bench also ordered members of the public to not upload the video in question on any social media platform. It said that the contents as mentioned in the video are “per se defamatory” and the same directly impinge upon the reputation of the plaintiff in the eyes of the general public.
“It is well settled that reputation is an integral part of the dignity of each individual and there is a need to balance between freedom of speech and freedom of expression vis-a-vis the right to reputation which has been considered as a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The video does have a direct impact on the reputation of the founder of the Plaintiff/Trust (Isha Foundation),” it added.
The Delhi High Court has listed the matter for further hearing on July 9.
“Let the Written Statement(s) to the plaint be positively filed within the time prescribed under the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018 along with the affidavit(s) of admission/denial of the documents of the Plaintiff,” ordered the Delhi High Court. The defamation plea filed by Isha Foundation seeks directions to the defendants to remove the YouTube video alleging that minors were being exploited in Sadhguru’s ashram.
The video has the effect of tarnishing the reputation of the spiritual organisation which is dedicated to raising human consciousness and fostering global harmony through individual transformation, claimed the defamation suit filed by the Isha Foundation.
In October last year, the Supreme Court had termed “unnecessary” the Madras High Court’s direction to Coimbatore Police to probe the Isha Foundation by expanding the ambit of the habeas corpus petition of a father who had alleged that his two daughters were kept under captivity in the ashram. After interaction with the two individuals in respect of whom the petition was filed, a bench headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud said that both the sisters had attained the age of majority and were majors even when they joined the ashram.
“They have expressed their clear inclination to continue at Isha Foundation at Coimbatore. In this view, the purpose of the Habeas Corpus petition is duly fulfilled. No further directions were necessary by the High Court,” the bench, also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, had said.
Further, it had said that the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution, while dealing with a habeas corpus petition, is well-defined and no further directions were necessary by the Madras High Court after it interacted with both the daughters of the petitioner-father.
In an interim order passed on October 3, 2024, the Supreme Court stayed an order of the Madras High Court issuing a direction to police in Coimbatore to probe the Isha Foundation. It had ordered that “police shall not take any action” in furtherance of the directions contained in the impugned judgment of the Madras High Court and transferred to itself the proceedings pending before the Madras HC.
Following the high court’s directive, a team of 150 police personnel, led by Coimbatore’s Superintendent of Police K. Karthikeyan conducted the inquiry into charges of two women being kept under captivity. The Madras High Court had directed the state government and Coimbatore rural police to probe all allegations against the Isha Foundation, after a former professor of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, S.Kamaraj, had moved a habeas corpus petition that his two daughters, Geetha Kamaraj and Latha Kamaraj, were kept under captivity there.
A bench of Justices S.M. Subramaniam and V. Sivagnanam, while hearing the case, interacted with the daughters of the petitioner and decided to probe the case further. The Justice Subramaniam-led Bench said that the court, exercising the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, was expected to do complete justice and that it was necessary to get to the bottom of the case.
It had directed the Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak to file a status report by October 4 listing all the cases related to the Isha Foundation after the petitioner’s lawyer claimed that there were multiple cases involving the Isha Foundation and that a doctor serving in the organisation was booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
Later, the Tamil Nadu Police in a report submitted to the Supreme Court, had said that in the last few years, some missing persons complaints relating to the Isha Yoga Centre have been filed, but the probe revealed that out of six persons missing from the centre, five have been found. The state police had expressed hope that one missing person would also be found soon, adding that those living there at the centre were doing so as per their free will.
–IANS
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