The Delhi High Court directed Nakkheeran to remove allegedly defamatory content against Isha Foundation. Justice Subramonium Prasad passed the interim order in a Rs 3 crore defamation suit also involving Google LLC over search results and YouTube videos.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court ordered the removal of defamatory material that the Tamil magazine Nakkheeran had published about Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Foundation.
Justice Subramonium Prasad issued the interim direction in favour of the Isha Foundation.
The Foundation has sued Nakkheeran and its editor Gopal, seeking ₹3 crore in damages for allegedly publishing defamatory content. Google LLC was also made a party because the allegedly defamatory material appeared in Google search results and videos were uploaded to its platform, YouTube.
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Isha Foundation said Nakkheeran ran critical pieces accusing the organization of various forms of wrongdoing, including exploitation, brainwashing and illegal activity. Those reports implied that some individuals associated with the Foundation were being held against their will or forced to act in particular ways.
According to Isha, Nakkheeran published these articles despite the Supreme Court having closed a habeas corpus petition filed by a father who alleged that two of his daughters had been “brainwashed” by the Foundation.
The dispute followed the Madras High Court’s direction to the Tamil Nadu government to provide details of all criminal cases registered against the Isha Foundation.
That development came after a man approached the court asserting that his two adult daughters, aged 42 and 39, had been “brainwashed” into staying at the Isha Yoga Centre.
On October 18, 2024, a Supreme Court bench led by then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, with Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, observed that both women were adults and had expressed their wish to remain at the Yoga centre.
CJI Chandrachud said,
“We had spoken to both the ladies and recorded. Both of them said that they are living there on free will and we need to close the habeas corpus plea,”
The bench therefore closed the habeas corpus petition, while clarifying that its order would not prevent the police from pursuing any separate investigation.
Following this, the Isha Foundation approached the Delhi High Court to challenge the allegedly defamatory articles published by Nakkheeran.
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