New Delhi. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday constituted a committee to monitor the situation at the Spiritual University in north Delhi’s Rohini, where the girls are allegedly kept in “animal-like” conditions. The court has constituted a committee headed by a district judge to monitor the situation in the spiritual institution, which will also be looked after by former Puducherry governor Kiran Bedi.
The spiritual university is headed by absconding self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit.
Considering the sensitivity of women and children, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla said that some vigilance is needed to keep a watch on such organisations.
Constituting the five-member committee, the bench said it would consist of the concerned District Judge, District Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Women’s Cell having jurisdiction over the area), Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, a nominated member of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and Women and Child Department will have district officers who will be the conveners and will also act as nodal officers. The panel will be supervised by Kiran Bedi.
Further hearing in the matter will be held on May 27. Earlier on April 19, while dealing with the matter, the bench had issued show cause notice to the institution.
The incident first came to light in 2017, following which raids were conducted by Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal as well as a high court-appointed committee, who were asked to be part of the team during the inspection.
The ashram has been accused of ‘inhuman treatment’ of women and minors and keeping them ‘like animals’. The committee had told the court that the girls and women were kept in the ashram in an “unhygienic manner and in animal-like condition, with no privacy even for bathing” and that around 40 women were rescued from there.
In 2018, the Delhi High Court had restrained the Ashram Spiritual University from presenting itself as a ‘university’ and directed the CBI to follow all possible steps to trace the self-styled godman.
On December 20, 2017, the Delhi High Court directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women at the ashram, who were kept in inhumane conditions behind metal doors in a ‘fort’ surrounded by barbed wire.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had registered three cases against Dixit for allegedly taking several women and minor girls hostage at his ashram.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the bench said that the health department of the Delhi government should take care of this place.
The bench remarked, “Such scandals are coming to the fore in broad daylight in a city like Delhi. This will not go on anymore. We are shocked to read this.”
After a detailed hearing, the matter was fixed for April 21, joining the petition filed by the NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment.
—AnyTV News
read this also – Click to read the news of your state / city before the newspaper