NEW DELHI: Terming as ‘extremely suspicious’ the conduct of the founder of a North Delhi-based ashram, where girls were allegedly kept in illegal confinement, the Delhi high court on Thursday directed the CBI to submit a report on his whereabouts.
A two-judge bench of acting chief justice Gita Mittal and justice C. Hari Shankar said if the ashram was a ‘spiritual’ place, why were the girls and women kept behind locked doors.
The bench also said that if Virender Dev Dixit, the founder of the ashram, was preaching spirituality, he should come forward and there should be no need for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to trace him.
The court directed the ashram to submit its stand on an affidavit with regard to the various allegations made in a PIL against it by an NGO, which has claimed that girls and women were illegally confined at the ‘spiritual university’ in North Delhi’s Rohini area.
A three-member committee, appointed by the court to inspect the Rohini ashram and its other branches in Delhi, claimed that the institute was making the inmates write letters and complaints making similar allegations of sexual assaults against their family members.
The committee, comprising Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Jaihind and advocates Nandita Rao and Ajay Verma, said the letters and complaints were being used to pressurise family members from taking any action against the ashram or Mr Dixit.
The committee also told the court that FIRs were being lodged against family members on the complaints and letters filed by the ashram inmates.
The court said that “prima facie there appears to be a substance in the submission of the committee” that the ashram and Mr Dixit may be utilising the complaints to make similar allegations against the family members as a ‘shield’ to keep the inmates within the ashram’s premises.
The bench was also of the prima facie view that the complaints and letters were ‘motivated’ and meant to ‘dissuade’ the family members from pursuing any PIL or criminal case, and to obstruct proceedings in ongoing matters.
The court warned the ashram not to resort to these tactics to browbeat parents. “If we find that any of these women are minors, then we will ask the CBI to lodge kidnapping cases against you.” The court said that while it would not obstruct or interfere in any legitimate, honest or genuine spiritual work, it “will not countenance any fraudulent or illegal activity”.
The court listed the matter for hearing on January 17. During the hearing, the bench said it was aware that the entire organisation was run and managed by Mr Dixit, and arguments to the contrary by the ashram’s lawyer are ‘falsified’ by information on the website as well as YouTube videos.
It warned the ashram’s lawyer that criminal contempt action can be initiated against him for his conduct and changing stances. The court had on December 22, 2017 directed the CBI to trace Mr Dixit who was ordered to be present before the bench on Thursday.
The CBI was told to probe the alleged illegal confinement of the girls and women at the ashram after the panel said the inmates there were kept in ‘animal-like’ conditions behind metal doors in a ‘fortress-like’ building surrounded by barbed wire fence. The agency was also told to form a special investigation team (SIT) forthwith.
