The survivor's family is planning to move the Madras High Court, seeking the transfer of the case to a Special Investigation Team, citing a lack of faith in the current handling of the investigation.
Published Apr 22, 2025 | 6:03 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 22, 2025 | 6:22 PM
The alleged abuse reportedly took place between 2017 and 2019, when the survivor, then a student, was residing on campus in one of the school’s “houses”. In picture, Isha Home School. (isha.sadhguru.org)
Synopsis: It has been alleged that the boy was sexually abused for two years, and the school staff ignored the complaint. The boy’s mother also blamed the police for going slow on the case. The Isha Foundation, however, has denied the charges.
An FIR has been registered against four staff members and a former student of Isha Home School, a residential school run by the Isha Foundation in Coimbatore, following grave allegations of sexual abuse and institutional negligence.
Various provisions of the POCSO Act and IPC have been invoked against the accused persons.
Detailing repeated instances of sexual harassment that took place over two years, the complaint, lodged by the survivor’s mother, accused the school management of covering it up to protect its reputation and that of its founder, Jaggi Vasudev, popularly known as Sadhguru.
The alleged abuse reportedly took place between 2017 and 2019, when the survivor, then a student, was residing on campus in one of the school’s “houses”, residential units that typically host about 20 students and are overseen by designated “house parents.”
The survivor alleged that a fellow student repeatedly molested and harassed him during this time. The accused student, now a former pupil, has been named as the first accused in the FIR.
The Isha Foundation refuted the charges and termed them “false, malicious, and defamatory”.
The FIR, registered on 31 January 2025 at the All Women Police Station in Perur, Coimbatore Rural, listed the names of four school authorities: hostel warden Nishanth Kumar, house parent Preethi Kumar, school principal Prakash Somayaji, and general coordinator Swami Vibhu.
They were named as accused under Sections 9(l), 10, and 21(2) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertains to wrongful confinement.
Section 10 of the POCSO Act deals with punishment for aggravated sexual assault; Section 21(2) addresses the failure of a person in charge of an institution to report offences; and Section 9(l) pertains to cases in which the child is abused repeatedly or under the influence of authority.
The FIR noted that despite multiple complaints by the survivor to his house parents and school authorities, including the principal, the matter was not escalated or addressed appropriately. Instead, he was reportedly instructed not to inform his parents.
In 2019, the boy sent an email to his parents describing the abuse he had faced over the previous two years. The survivor’s mother immediately contacted the school but received no response for two days. The FIR said the school responded — not with support, but with evasive communication — only after the mother threatened to go to the police that the school responded.
The principal, Prakash Somayaji, allegedly insisted on speaking only over WhatsApp calls and avoided other modes of communication. The mother claimed that she was told that the accused student “belonged to a very elite family” and that taking action would be difficult.
A staff member reportedly said action would have been taken had the survivor been a girl.
The parents were also reportedly warned against going to the police, they said. The FIR said that Swami Vibhu had told the survivor’s mother that filing a complaint would bring “bad karma” and “harm Sadhguru’s name.”
Following the initial complaint, the accused student was temporarily moved to the home of a “house parent coordinator” for a week but was soon returned to the same hostel where the survivor stayed.
The following academic year, both students resumed school, and the accused was allowed back into the same environment despite earlier allegations.
The survivor’s mother stated that she objected on seeing the accused back on the campus. She said the school staff “begged” her not to report the matter to police and attempted to dissuade her by invoking the reputation of the institution and its founder.
She also claimed that she made multiple attempts to reach Jaggi Vasudev through email, hoping for his intervention, but received no response.
The survivor’s parents held a press conference in October 2024 to raise the issue, after which they submitted an online complaint to the police.
However, the FIR was not registered until three months later. Despite its registration on 31 January, the police did not provide the parents a copy of the FIR until 28 March, after they were compelled to inform a magistrate during the recording of their statement.
The mother told South First that she was summoned to the police station multiple times to follow up, and that officers continued to delay giving her the official document.
She stated that on 25 February, when she went to the police station to collect the FIR, the police refused, saying, “Tomorrow is Maha Shivaratri.”
Now, the family is preparing to move the Madras High Court, seeking the transfer of the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT), citing a lack of faith in the current handling of the investigation and the need for independent oversight.
When South First contacted Isha Foundation for a response, a spokesperson denied the allegations, calling them “false, malicious, and defamatory.”
The foundation stated that the matter was investigated in 2019, and a case of bullying was found, following which the student concerned was issued a migration certificate. The statement also claimed that the complainant’s family remained associated with the school for years afterward, including volunteering and applying for the admission of a younger sibling.
The foundation alleged that the renewed accusations were a result of personal grievance and said it has initiated appropriate legal action.
The foundation also stated that after her elder son graduated, the survivor’s mother volunteered at Isha Home School from June 2022 but was asked to leave by March 2024 following complaints from students, parents, and teachers regarding her conduct.
“Disgruntled by her removal, she has been attempting to twist the situation into false allegations of sexual harassment. This is a calculated effort to malign the reputation of the school and the ashram, and we have initiated appropriate legal action,” the foundation said.
However, in her police complaint, the mother attributed her removal to the repeated emails she sent to Jaggi Vasudev seeking his intervention.
She stated that a volunteer, identified as Divya Hemachandran, asked her to leave the premises, conveying that Sadhguru would not meet her and that it was unnecessary to engage with her. The mother claimed that she then realised that he was aware of the allegations but chose not to address them or show concern.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
