The Delhi High Court on Thursday, 4 January, termed the conduct of the founder of a north Delhi-based ashram – where girls were allegedly kept in illegal confinement – as "extremely suspicious" and asked the CBI to give a report on his whereabouts again.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar prima facie found substance in the argument of a panel appointed by it that the ashram and its founder Virender Dev Dixit were making the girls housed there lodge false complaints against their family members.
It said these complaints against family members appear to have been lodged to dissuade them from pursuing cases against the ashram and Dixit.
The court said that while it will not interfere in any genuine, legitimate and honest spiritual activity, it will "not countenance any fraudulent or illegal activity".
The bench also said that the entire organisation was run and managed by Dixit and arguments to the contrary by the ashram's lawyer are "falsified" by information on the website as well as YouTube videos.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment, which informed the court that several minors and women were allegedly being illegally confined at the "spiritual university" here and were not allowed to meet their parents.
The bench had earlier ordered a CBI probe by a SIT into the ashram and its founder.
The SIT was also asked to investigate various complaints lodged against the ashram and its founder.
The same bench had asked Virender Dev Dixit to be present before it on Thursday, which was the next date of hearing.
The bench had also issued a show-cause notice to a woman staying at the ashram, asking why contempt action would not be initiated against her for assaulting the court-appointed committee when it went to inspect the place.
The court had directed the CBI to proceed in accordance with law and ensure that the truth comes out but that clearly made no difference.
The court had earlier asked the Delhi Police and the AAP government to extend their full cooperation and render every assistance and logistics required by the CBI's special investigative team (SIT) which is investigating the allegations against the ashram and its founder.
The bench had also asked the committee appointed by it to inspect eight other similar centres being run by Dixit in the national capital after the existence of these places was brought to the court's attention.
It directed that the committee, comprising Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal and advocates Ajay Verma and Nandita Rao, be provided protection by the police and ordered the people running the centres to cooperate and not obstruct the inspection.
The court had also sought a report from the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on the age verification tests it had carried out on the 41 girls rescued from the ashram in Rohini on 21 December.
The bench also noted that the ashram or vidyalaya, which it claimed to be, did not appear to have any legal status as it is neither a registered society as per the law nor a trust or company.
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