Delhi HC orders Rohini ashram be taken over by govt, says women living in ‘animal-like conditions’

The Delhi high court on Tuesday said that it was “aghast” over the management of a Rohini-based ashram housing several women living in “animal-like conditions”, adding that the ashram should be taken over by the Delhi government.

“In broad daylight in a city like Delhi you’re going on with these scandals. This won’t go on for another day. We are aghast to read this,” a bench comprising acting chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice Navin Chawla said.

While issuing a show cause notice to Adhyatmik Vidhyalaya ashram in Rohini asking why their unit should not be taken over by the state government, the court directed the deputy commissioner of police concerned to ensure that its inmates are “not removed” before the matter is heard again on April 21.

The court also noted that the person who set up the ashram, self-styled godman Baba Virendra Dixit, has been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and is presently on the run, adding that it was difficult to accept that the inmates were living there of their free will. “We find it difficult to accept that the inmates of the institution are in their full senses and they are in the institution of their own free will and they are not under coercion and undue influence,” said the court.

The court was hearing a plea by the parents of a woman, an inmate of the ashram, claiming that they were not permitted to meet their daughter.

Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the petitioners, relied on a report submitted to the court in a related case claiming that over 100 inmates were in the ashram in “animal-like conditions”.

However, advocate Amit Kochar, appearing for the ashram, quoted a report by doctors highlighting that there was no irregularity in running the ashram. The court opined that the doctors’ report “does not gel” with the reports prepared by Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal and other advocates.

In December 2017, the high court had directed a committee, comprising DCW chief Swati Maliwal and other lawyers, to inspect the ashram premises. The committee then gave a report detailing the “horrible” living conditions.