The Delhi High Court formed a committee to ensure the welfare and assess the physical and mental health of women inmates at a Rohini-based ashram founded by self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit, who is a proclaimed offender in a case of sexual exploitation. The committee will be supervised by former Pondicherry Lieutenant Governor and retired IPS officer Kiran Bedi.
Last Monday, a division bench led by acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla found that the women inmates of Adhyatmik Vidyalaya are brainwashed, and that their claim that they are there of their own free will cannot be taken at face value.
The bench stated that it believes a committee should be formed to keep a careful eye on the convicts' welfare. The district and sessions judge concerned, or his or her nominee holding the rank of additional district judge, the district magistrate, the DCP of the Crime against Women Cell, the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, one nominee of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), and a district officer of the women and child development department make up the court-appointed committee.
“The committee shall function to see and ensure that no woman inmate or child, if any found, in the respondent institution is subjected to any such treatment which may tantamount to breach of her fundamental or other legal rights. The committee shall be provided with access by the institution to inspect the premises and to interact with the inmates freely on a regular basis,” said the court.
The court ordered the Adhyatmik Vidyalaya to make inmate-related records available to the committee for inspection, saying the latter might consult doctors, psychiatrists, and other specialists to assess the women's physical and mental health.
“At the same time, we make it clear that the institution shall be free to pursue its religious and spiritual activities, provided none of them infringes upon any fundamental or other rights of any inmate or any other person. The committee shall file its report on a monthly basis,” said the bench.
The Delhi government was also ordered to severely execute the Women's and Children's Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956, and its restrictions.
It also took note of the DCW's suggestions for forming a committee to investigate the affairs of similar institutions to ensure that women and children in similar institutions are not subjected to any violations of their fundamental or legal rights, and that proper vigilance and scrutiny are in place to ensure the welfare of such vulnerable groups. The court has urged both the Delhi administration and the Centre to consider the suggestions.
After hearing a PIL filed by an NGO, the High Court instructed the CBI to examine the alleged illegal confinement of women and girls in the ashram in December 2017.
While Dixit was charged by the agency subsequently, a Rouse Avenue Court labelled him a proclaimed offender in September 2019 and he has not been arrested since.
In a 2017 report to the court, an inspection team stated that over 100 girls were confined in "animal-like conditions with little privacy" at the facility. Advocate Nandita Rao, a member of the team, had raised great concern about the convicts' health, saying that several appeared to be under the effect of drugs or narcotic substances.
