The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the city police to immediately inspect an institute in Delhi’s Rohini, where girls and women were allegedly kept in illegal confinement in the name of preaching.
‘‘Extremely dangerous’
A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar said it was “extremely dangerous” and dubbed the situation as similar to the one witnessed in Haryana’s Sirsa.
“This issue is similar to the situation faced in Sirsa, where girls and women were illegally confined,” the Bench said.
Orders to DCW
It directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to depute a senior police officer not below the rank of a Deputy Commissioner of Police to conduct an inspection of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya on Tuesday itself.
Ordering that the inspection be video-graphed, the High Court also directed Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal to accompany the police.
The court also directed the Delhi Police standing counsel Rahul Mehra to ensure that the three girls whose parents had moved court be produced before it on Wednesday.
The Bench further directed Virender Dev Dixit, referred to as the founder and spiritual head of the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya, to cooperate with the police during the inspection.
NGO files petition
Non-government organisation Foundation for Social Empowerment had informed the court that several minors and women were allegedly confined illegally at the “spiritual university” here and were not allowed to meet their parents.
The Non-government organisation produced one girl in the court who had allegedly managed to get out of the premises.
It claimed that the minor was raped during her stay at the “spiritual university”.
To this, the Bench asked the police to place a status report, and issued notice to the Centre and the Delhi governments, seeking their response.
