Manoj Das
Gupta, the Registrar of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram International Centre of
Education and other members of the School Committee along with their advisers
have been adopting the most crooked means to save themselves from contempt of
Court. This is in reference to Radhikaranjan Das’s case which was filed in
Pondicherry Court last year in June 2012. The Registrar and the School Committee
know too well that the verdict of the case was in Radhikaranjan’s favour, that
is, to completely restore his classes in the Ashram School. The Court Order had
created fear in the mind of the Registrar as there was already a contempt of
Court pending in his name. The Court had passed an Order in December 2012 not
to stop Radhikaranjan’s classes, which the Registrar had blatantly disobeyed. He
knew the consequences of a violation of a Court Order, so he wanted to create a
false impression of having complied with it in the school session starting on
16 December, 2012. He gave Radhikaranjan a note telling him to fix his classes
with the Higher Course students and yet prevented him from taking any classes.
How did he do it?
29 Dec 2013
21 Dec 2013
Analysis of the Preface of P. Heehs’ The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP, 2008 (Part 3) – A Zombified Disciple
Murders in the Land of the Naïve – 5
Peter Heehs wrote Sri
Aurobindo: A Brief Biography, OUP, 1989 (Bio-1), and The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, CUP,
2008, (Bio-2), and a life-sketch.[1] My
attitude and approach to Bio-2
Preface is empowered by its own diktat: Biographers
must take their documents as they find them…, paying as much attention to what
is written by the subject’s enemies as by his friends, not giving special
treatment even to the subject’s own version of events. Accounts by the subject
have exceptional value, but they need to be compared against other narrative
accounts, more important, against documents that do not reflect a particular
point of view. I take this preface at face value, compare it against other
narrative accounts and facts that do not reflect its version of events, and
analyse it with its device – critical
openness of a seeker of truth. In the resultant exposé, Lives of Marcher, ‘Marcher’ is a fusion of
his forebears Catherine Mayo (1867-1940) and William Archer (1856-1924), though
Marcherism – degrading the Sanatana Dharma and vilifying the greatest children
of Mother India, was born centuries before Mayo-Archer. Peter Marcher Heehs first
encountered Sri Aurobindo in 1968. To encounter means to meet face to face,
defy, oppose, confront. Of the too few exposed Marchers, ours alone continues
to thrive at his subject’s expense. But
its entire credit goes to his Daemon, a special emission of “the falsehood of
the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the
earth-Nature”.[2]
14 Dec 2013
Response to the Auroville Today Report on Ashram Affairs (2) – by Sridharan
I come now to the second part of the article on Ashram
affairs in the Auroville Today issue
of October 2013. The writer quotes one Mr Govardhan Dave in support of his own
pre-determined ideas on the present state of affairs in Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Auroville Today: The attacks, obviously, have no longer anything to do
with the book The Lives of Sri Aurobindo.
“One can reasonably assert that it is not the controversial book of Peter
Heehs, but the move to remodel the constitution of Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Trust that constitutes the hostile attack on Her Work,” wrote Govardhan Dave, a
senior and scholarly disciple of Sri Aurobindo who was in close touch with
Ambalal Purani and considered to be M.P. Pandit’s right hand man in Gujarat.
A word on Mr Govardhan Dave’s background would not be
out of place here. Mr. Dave’s claim of being the right hand man of M.P. Pandit
in Gujarat and the left-hand man of A.B. Purani amounts to practically nothing.
Dave is presently embroiled in a court case over the possession of a School in
Gujarat. The Sri Aurobindo Society had actually stepped in to offer financial
aid when the School managed by Dave was running in loss, but it withdrew when
the court case filed by the latter threatened to entangle it further. Finally,
it is clear that the Auroville Today
editor is simply using Dave to fire from behind his shoulder rather than take
him as an authority on the internal affairs of the Ashram, which he is
certainly not. The first posting on Dave’s site is in fact dated December 2012
whereas the movement against the Trust had started long back in August 2008,
first with regard to Peter Heehs, and then in other matters relating to the
general administration of the Ashram Trust in August 2012, when an enquiry on
the Ashram Trustees was sought from the Puducherry Collector. So where was Dave
all these years and why did he not pronounce his opinions earlier? I wonder if
he is at all familiar with the present state of affairs in Sri Aurobindo
Ashram!
9 Dec 2013
Reply to Samir Sarkar – by Bireshwar Choudhury
[Samir Sarkar,
son of Kalu Sarkar, objected to the publication of the letter of Kalu Sarkar to Manoj Das Gupta on this website. The following is a reply to his letter by Bireshwar
Choudhury.]
Samir Sarkar: Dear Administrator,
I write to you
on behalf of my father, Kalu SARKAR, after having consulted him.
I know that my
father was disturbed a few years ago in regards to Peter Heehs' book. Most
of his opinion was built on hearsay. Having said that he DOES NOT subscribe to
the views in the above letter any longer.
Bireshwar Choudhury: Dear Samir, first of all, why should you write on behalf of your
father Kalu Sarkar? Why cannot he speak for himself? He is after all the son of
a revolutionary who faced the wrath of British rule in pre-independent India!
He should not withdraw a statement that he undeniably made when the Peter Heehs
issue rocked the entire Ashram community in the year 2008. Moreover, you
seem to be patronising your father, pooh-poohing him like an excitable kid, who
had gone berserk in a state of emotional frenzy. This is exactly what the
Managing Trustee said and did at that time with those who rightly and bravely
reacted against Peter Heehs’s derogatory book on Sri Aurobindo. He also put on
an air of “dignified silence” and pretentious samata, when he was actually dictated by other compulsions. Can you
also be more explicit about how your father does not subscribe to the views that
he had expressed earlier? If he now thinks that Peter Heehs should be given the
Nobel Prize for literature for the Lives
of Sri Aurobindo, let him say so himself, and we will publish his statement
on this very blog! He might now withdraw his criticism of the Managing Trustee,
but that does not exonerate Peter Heehs. His harsh criticism of Manoj Das
Gupta was made in relation to the Peter Heehs issue, so the two cannot be
easily separated! Finally, it has come to our knowledge that it was because of
the admission of his grandchild (meaning your child) that he stopped roaring like
a wounded lion and started whining like a cat waiting for its daily quota of
milk. If this is right, shame on him and shame on you!
4 Dec 2013
Kalu Sarkar’s letter to Manoj Das Gupta
[The following is a letter of Kalu Sarkar,
son of the famous revolutionary Sudhir Sarkar, and brother of Mona Sarkar. Kalu
Sarkar expresses in this letter exactly what most Ashramites feel in the depth
of their hearts but cannot utter due to the fear of reprisal from the Managing
Trustee of the Ashram.]
The man if he does not stop
short and abandon his way of error, has
eventually the Asura full-born in him, and once he has taken that enormous turn
away from the Light and Truth, he can no more reverse the fatal speed of his
course because of the very immensity of the misused divine power in him until
he has plumbed the depths to which he falls, found bottom and seen where the
way has led him, the power exhausted and misspent, himself down in the lowest
strata of the soul-nature, which is Hell. Only when he understands and turns to
the light, does that other truth of the Gita come in, that even the greatest sinner,
the most impure and violent evil-doer is saved the moment he turns to adore and
follows after the Godhead within him. Then, simply by that turn, he gets very
soon into the sattwic way which leads to perfection and freedom.
(Essays
on the Gita – Sri Aurobindo)
Att: Managing Trustee
1. This is in reference to your
letter to X without a name, without a date and without a signature. If you want
everybody to love you, why don’t you practise the very first prayer the Mother
has given us behind every notebook of our institution, to be straightforward,
honest, frank and honourable children. It is the heart that speaks the Truth
and the Truth comes out from these noble qualities.
29 Nov 2013
Response to Auroville Today Report on Ashram Affairs (1) ― Sridharan
The Auroville
Today report on Ashram affairs in the issue of October, 2013 is a
“thoroughly researched” (!) presentation of facts by a lawyer who has been
given the job of defending the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust. He has therefore necessarily
presented only one side of the story and has left out all the
events and documents that are not compatible with his whitewashed picture of
the Ashram Trust. The foundation of his thesis is predetermined: the Trustees
are angels fallen from the sky and those who are protesting against them are
hostile forces attacking the Mother’s work. In that case, Auroville should also
be considered as part of that falsehood because the Mother had originally given
the task of building Auroville to Sri Aurobindo Society and not to those who
rebelled against it and brought about a Govt. intervention! Navajat Poddar has indeed
been so much demonised by Aurovillians that I would now like to believe that he
was the Mother’s instrument! Why don’t the Aurovillians don’t even mention him
as the man who first proposed Auroville to the Mother, who then used him as an
instrument to execute it? It is high time that he should be given due credit
for his role.
I will quote below some of the salient passages in the
Auroville Today report and give my
response.
23 Nov 2013
A Comparison of Sexual Assaults – Bireshwar Choudhury
While
the whole nation follows the discussion on the Tarun Tejpal sex scandal, have
the Ashramites forgotten that far more serious incidents have happened at Sri
Aurobindo Ashram? Or will they still pretend like Manoj Das Gupta (the Managing
Trustee) that nothing untoward has ever happened in the Ashram? I quote below
the statements of two victims of alleged sexual assault: (1) that of the young Tehelka lady reporter who accused the
chief editor of Tehelka, Tarun Tejpal,
of sexually assaulting her, which led to an unconditional apology by him and the
decision to recuse himself for the next six months; and (2) that of a young Oriya lady who was molested by one Mukesh Shah in one of the guest houses of Sri
Aurobindo Ashram. The emotionally shattered victim went weeping to the
concerned authorities of the Ashram, but no action was taken on Mukesh Shah
because he happened to be one of the key henchmen of the Trustees. Instead
the lady was told by the Managing Trustee to either bear with or concede
to the sexual solicitations of the Guest House manager or to go back to her native
place, because this was the unalterable way of life at the Ashram!!! I suppose
this is one of the finest examples of Manoj Das Gupta’s remarkable
administration of the Ashram Trust!
The
comparison between the two statements below is striking. In fact, the sexual
offence of Mukesh Shah is far more serious than the alleged sexual misconduct
of Tarun Tejpal.
20 Nov 2013
RAJ TV Programme in Tamil titled “KOPPIUM” (17.09.2013) ― English Translation
The Disclaimer at the
beginning states that their intention is not to smear anyone but to inform and
awaken people regarding emergent issues.
The Compere opens the video
mentioning that for reforms in the life of society, great people and Gyanis
make efforts and establish institutions to enable people to live in accordance
with their ideas and ideals. After the lifetime of such savants, it is however
doubtful whether those who manage the institutions in subsequent periods have
the same sense of dedication to the high ideals or function with the noble idea
of service to others.
One such institution which is
presented in the present episode is the
world renowned Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry (Puducherry) wherein there
are allegations of misdeeds by the Ashram Trustees, including horror stories of sex torture meted out to female inmates by addicts and the
institution being under the control of a
secret mafia.
Sri Aurobindo (whose original name
was Aurobindo Ackroyd Ghose) was a great freedom fighter and veritably can be
called the Maharishi for the Freedom struggle of the country. He turned to
spirituality and said that true freedom is not merely on the political front
but in spirituality. The Ashram, which came into existence during his lifetime,
became the centre for spreading his message of spiritual ideas to people and to
serve the purpose of progress in their spiritual life.
It is a fact that the Ashram in
Pondicherry has been in existence for many years now and people from near and
far (from within the country and from other countries) have come and settled
here after surrendering all their property, wealth and riches to the Ashram.
The followers of Sri Aurobindo have no caste differences, no differences on
account of religion, no prejudices with regard to gender, no bias towards
people hailing from different countries. In a sense, all are followers of Sri
Aurobindo without any differentiation. Such a prestigious institution which is
renowned all over the world is presently being mentioned as a place where there
is sexual harassment of inmates, violation of human rights, embezzlement of
financial resources, and alienation of real estate properties of the Ashram by
the henchmen and their principals who manage the affairs of the Ashram.
15 Nov 2013
8 Nov 2013
The Bat Policy – by Banamali Mishra
I
am reminded of a story that I had heard in my childhood. As a child I enjoyed
the story and found it very funny. As I grew up and acquired a little knowledge
of biology, this story became interesting to me in a different light. Now with
advancing years I sometimes look back and think how many human beings, though
evolved, are still like bats in many respects.
Let
me not keep you in suspense. I will recount the story now. Many millenniums ago, long before human
beings came into existence, prehistoric birds, animals and dinosaurs ruled the
earth with their might. There were constant fights among them to gain
supremacy. It was clear that animals were the kings on land and birds had
unchallenged supremacy in air. Once there was a big fight. The huge strong
birds carried large stones up in the air and dropped them on the animals,
killing many of them. They swooped down on the small animals and carried them
away. It was clear that the birds were winning the battle.
The
bat had not joined the power struggle. It was a fence-sitter. It was unable to
decide whether it was a bird or an animal. Seeing the obvious victory of the
birds, it joined the side of the birds and fought against the animals. The
birds asked him, “Why did you join us?’’ It replied, “Because I am a bird and I
fly. The animals don’t fly.’’
1 Nov 2013
Sridharan Replies to Arpit Agarwal of SAICE forum
I have picked out this
particular passage of Arpit Agarwal in a never-ending competition in insulting
Alok Pandey that took place on the SAICE forum, because there is in it
a modicum of decency, and the argument (whatever be its worth) is well stated.
This is truly exceptional in a forum which is usually busy with mud-slinging at
the lowest level of verbal exchange. I wonder how Arpit Agarwal, who happens to
be the site’s moderator, bears with all the sound and fury that rages therein.
I can only compare his attitude with that of parents who leave their five year
old wards in a closed room and let them fight, shout, laugh and weep to their
hearts’ content while ensuring that they don’t beat each other black and blue by
occasionally peeping into the room and exercising
a word of caution. Arpit Agarwal has done the same; he has peeped in at the
right time when things were going out of control in the forum and raised a point
which is very pertinent, though I certainly will not agree with it. The point
that he has made is with regard to the reason (or rather lack of reason) for
not going against the Trustees of Sri Aurobindo Ashram even if they are in the wrong.
I quote passages from his letter dated 21.10.2013 to Ashit Kumar Mitra (of Kasser Trust, or is it "Cusser" Trust?)
regarding Alok Pandey; these are followed by my answers:
29 Oct 2013
27 Oct 2013
Press Release Issued by Thiru Ashok Anand, M.L.A., on 26 October, 2013
BACKGROUND
Sri Aurobindo
Ashram is known all over world as the home of Sri Aurobindo’s unique and
pathbreaking Integral Yoga. Sri Aurobindo Ashram is also the Pride of
Puducherry and occupies a central position in its cultural and spiritual
landscape.
Sri Aurobindo Ashram
is administered by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust with five Trustees at the helm of
affairs. There is no election or democratic selection process of these
Trustees. Trustees remain Trustees for life and have no accountability.
While Sri Aurobindo
Ashram Trust is a Public Charitable Trust, it does not come under the R.T.I.
As per various
reports, the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust occupies over 60% of Puducherry’s prime
real estate valued at over Rs.10,000 crores by very conservative estimates. It
receives hundreds of crores in donations every year as also Income Tax
Exemptions from the Central Government and various benefits from the Government
of Puducherry.
Over the last 10
years, there have been consistent and serious reports of violations of human
rights, sexual harrasement and serious crimes against women, financial
mismanagement and evasion of taxes, etc, and all in the name of God.
The Trustees are
involved in hundreds of legal cases all over India. The Managing Trustee is
currently out on bail for forgery in a land grabbing case and the children of
other Trustees are allegedly involved in shady real estate transactions
involving crores of rupees in Public Funds. Annually, the Trustees spend crores
of rupees in legal fees from Public Funds in order to defend themselves
individually.
24 Oct 2013
Inquiry into allegations against Ashram begins ― The Hindu (24 October, 2013)
T.L. Viswanatha
Iyer, retired Judge of Kerala High Court, who was appointed by the Madras High
Court in the place of Justice P.R. Raman to look into allegations of sexual
harassment of women, children and others at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, began the
inquiry on Wednesday.
Justice Raman
was relieved of the responsibility as he expressed inability to complete the
probe within three months.
He was of the
view that it would take at least six months to complete the process.
About 50
persons including complainants and respondents from inmates of Sri Aurobindo
Ashram and Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust appeared before Mr. Iyer when he began
the inquiry at a training hall of the Chief Secretariat here. Sizeable number
of women also appeared before him.
The next
hearing is likely in the first week of December.
As per the
Madras High Court direction, the inquiry would focus on whether allegations of
sexual harassment of women and children in the Ashram were true and whether
there was any truth in the allegation regarding violation of human rights and
denial of fundamental rights to the inmates.
23 Oct 2013
Correspondence between Manoj Das and Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya in June 1994 (2)
[We publish the second letter that Manoj Das wrote to Pranab Kumar
Bhattacharya on 15 June, 1994 (read the first letter in the previous post). Manoj
Das got the rudest shock of his life when Dada wrote back, “I have read your
letter dated 15.6.94.
Now I am absolutely convinced that you are
a fool and an idiot.”
[emphasis
added] Manoj Das still
persisted, “I feel tempted to agree with you.
Indeed, had I not been a fool and an idiot, I would not perhaps have made an effort
to make you reason our actions in a wider perspective.” He ended with a final
call for harmony and reason in a third and final letter to Dada, whom he considered
(despite the beating he received from him) “to be someone very special”. He
then took up the matter with Harikant Patel, the then Managing Trustee, who did
not want to intervene. It is said that Manoj Das then honourably resigned from
Trusteeship for “the sake of upholding truth and justice”, but it was not exactly
so. According to people close him, he resigned in a dramatic way to make a
big public scene and put pressure on Harikant Patel, which unfortunately did not happen as envisaged by him.
Instead his resignation was quietly accepted by the Managing Trustee, making it
impossible for him to come back again into the Ashram Trust Board. Both
Harikant Patel and Manoj Das Gupta, the present Managing Trustee, badly let him
down in this matter. It is perhaps because of this humble pie he had to eat, along
with the ignominy of having been insulted by one of the closest attendants of
the Mother and one of her most respected disciples, that Manoj Das learnt the political
lesson of his life ― never
to go against the Establishment. The proof of my conjecture is in
the fact that he now so faithfully toes the line of the Trustees despite their
going astray from the central tenets of the Ashram. How many times he has repeated that the
Trustees can never be wrong despite their human weaknesses, how many times he
has defended their wrong decisions with regard to the administration of the
Ashram! But what about his own case of
confrontation with Dada in June 1994? If he says he was certainly right in going against Dada at that time, then why should he raise objections now with regard to those who are presently confronting the Trustees?
– Bireshwar]
17 Oct 2013
Correspondence between Manoj Das and Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya in June 1994 (1)
[Of late Manoj Das is very much in the public
domain writing long-winded letters full of platitudes, without changing a wee
bit his crassly subservient attitude towards the Ashram Trustees. But in June
1994 he was a different man and he had dared to challenge Pranab Kumar
Bhattacharya, the head of the Ashram Physical Education Department. The issue
on which he mainly differed with “Dada” was the expulsion of a child, who had
been admitted into the Ashram School against the rules of the Physical
Education Dept. I will not go into the merits of the rule itself, but I will
draw the reader’s attention to the fact that Manoj Das had the guts to
challenge in writing the unfairness of the rule in general and its wrong
application in this particular case. Dada dismissed Manoj Das’s letter to him
as “simply rubbish” and told him to
mind his own business. This eventually led to the resignation of Manoj Das from
the Board of Ashram Trustees. Perhaps it is because of this shock and the
bitter pill of defeat he had to swallow that Manoj Das now faithfully toes the
line of the Ashram Trustees and writes miles of foolscap pages in their favour!
The correspondence between Manoj Das and PKB is long and will be published in
at least two instalments. ― Bireshwar]
12 Oct 2013
New enquiry officer to probe Aurobindo Ashram case (The Hindu, 10 October 2013) – Bireshwar Choudhury
Justice T.L.
Viswanatha Iyer, a former Judge of the Kerala High Court, will be the enquiry
officer (EO) in the place of Justice P.R. Raman, to look into allegations of
sexual harassment of women and children in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in
Puducherry.
By consent,
in an order on August 30, Justice K.K. Sasidharan appointed Mr. Justice Raman,
also a former Judge of the Kerala High Court, to probe the allegations.
Pursuant to the order, Mr. Justice Raman conducted a preliminary enquiry. The
next enquiry is scheduled from October 23 to 26.
The EO
appeared to have received a representation from 165 persons from Odisha, stated
to be ashram devotees, and who had some information regarding the issues under
consideration. The original understanding was that the enquiry would be
confined to complaints from the inmates of the ashram and the local MLA, and as
such, it would take at least three months. The EO was of the view that it would
take a minimum six months to complete the process. He, therefore, expressed his
difficulty to continue as he had to come from Kochi frequently. He requested
that he be relieved from the engagement.
Mr. Justice
Sasidharan ordered that the enquiry would be in relation to the complaints
received by the District Collector.
The present
and former inmates of the ashram were at liberty to approach the EO, if they
were aggrieved. It was open to the EO to take a decision with regard to
participation of third parties, provided they satisfied that they were inmates
of the ashram at a particular point of time. The EO should conclude the enquiry
as early as possible and file a report before the High Court preferably by
December 31. The matter has been posted for January 2, 2014.
Comment: Retired
High Court Judge P.R. Raman, who was the previous Enquiry Officer, had called for the depositions of not only the inmates of Sri Aurobindo
Ashram but of all other disciples and devotees of Sri Aurobindo staying in or
outside Pondicherry. The enquiry was to be conducted in several stages and
different notifications were to be issued to address the different categories
of devotees and disciples of Sri Aurobindo. So how can the enquiry be limited
to only the inmates of Sri Aurobindo Ashram?
The preamble of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Trust Deed states that “Sri Aurobindo
Ashram is the home of persons who are the followers and disciples of Sri
Aurobindo having faith in his philosophy and yoga.” That the beneficiaries of
the Trust are the “disciples, devotees and inmates” is mentioned no less than
half a dozen times in the Trust Deed. This
was sufficiently clarified in the last and only meeting of 27th
September, 2013 presided by P.R. Raman when the question of a letter from
Orissa signed by 165 devotees had come up. The scope of the enquiry had been even
written into the minutes of the meeting by the honourable retired High Court
Judge. How can the scope of the enquiry be changed now to exclude the
non-inmates?
The information
provided by the Hindu news reporter seems to be biased and incorrect because it
sends the wrong information to the public and paves the way for a quick and
sham probe, which is what the Ashram Trustees want to get away with. A large
number of devotees and disciples apart from the inmates fully maintained by the
Ashram Trust are actually quite eager to depose in front of the Commission in
order to set things right in Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Below is a scan of a
true copy of the minutes of P.R. Raman’s first meeting at Ananda Inn on the 27th
of September 2013.
Bireshwar Choudhury6 Oct 2013
Reply to “A Last Appeal” of Prof Manoj Das ― by Sricharan Singh
Professor Manoj Das (nicknamed Dr.
Faustus or Byakta Manoj) wrote on 22 April, 2013 “A Suggestion for
Introspection” in reply to Sricharan Singh’s “Professor Manoj Das has Sold his
Soul to the Devil”. At the end of his
reply, he said, “Dear Editor, if I have
written this much, it is only with the hope that some of your readers might be
expecting some clarifications on statements from me. I would not like to
descend into the exercise again.” But immediately on 10 May, 2013, unable to
restrain himself any longer, he wrote another letter under the title “A Last
Appeal”. In this appeal, instead of replying to the points raised against him,
he vomited profusely his anger in the form of abuses and curses on those who
had dared to question him.
28 Sept 2013
One-man Panel Begins Enquiry into Charges Against Aurobindo Ashram ― New Indian Express
New Indian Express Chennai Saturday 28 September 2013
Retired
Judge P.R. Raman will probe allegations of sexual harassment of women in ashram
and violation of human rights
P.R. Raman, Retired Judge of Kerala
High Court who was appointed by the Madras High Court, has begun enquiry into
the allegations against Sri Aurobindo Ashram.
Around 20 persons have deposed before the
Judge who is assisted by Advocate Satya Priya after he sent notices to all
petitioners (against the Ashram) and respondents to appear before him and
depose in the case.
The retired Judge, who will be here
until Saturday for the first sitting, will first hear the deposition from those
who made the allegations and then will enquire with the authorities, other
inmates and devotees of the Ashram as well as with administrative officials
before returning for a second sitting on October 26, sources said.
The judge will probe into allegations
of sexual harassment of women in the ashram, violation of human rights, denial
of fundamental rights to ashram inmates, misappropriation of funds and illegal
sale of ashram properties by the trustees brought in by certain inmates,
devotees and MLAs.
Although an inquiry by the Deputy
Collector was initiated in this regard by the Territorial administration, the
Ashram Trust moved the High Court and obtained an interim stay contending that
the inquiry was biased and far from being free and fair.
The allegations rocked the Assembly
after the Ashram Trust obtained a stay and MLAs, led by Ashok Anand of the
ruling AINRC, wanted the government to take control of the ashram by appointing
an administrative officer for the Ashram Trust.
However, Chief Minister N. Rangasamy
has said that he would take a decision in this regard only after consultations
with the Law Department.
Meanwhile, while disposing the appeal
against its order, the High Court appointed the retired Judge to look into the
allegations.
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