Kochi: The Kerala High Court has rejected a habeas corpus plea filed by a 'spiritual guru', seeking the release of a 21-year-old woman from her parents’ custody.
The petition was filed by Dr Kailas Natarajan, a Kollam native, who claimed that the woman was his ‘spiritual partner’ and sought her release.
However, the division bench, comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice M R Anitha, rejected this plea.
Earlier, the government had submitted the police report on the case in the court.
The court said that the woman was not in a mental state to take decisions on her own and need not be moved out of her parents' custody. It persuaded the woman to undergo counselling for an expert opinion, but she refused.
Her parents alleged that the petitioner had influenced her when she was taken to him for counselling as she faced depression.
The petitioner told the court that they had been living together on the spiritual path for the past two-and-a-half years. The woman also said that she only had a spiritual relationship and wanted to go with the petitioner.
But the court observed that no evidence was produced for the 'guru-shishya' relation. Nor was it said that they had got married.
Dr Kailas has a wife and two kids.
As per the statements of a 14-year-old girl, Dr Kailas was named as the third accused in a POCSO case. However, this was later dropped as more evidence could not be found, the police said.
The petitioner, who was in the medical profession, now claimed to be a 'Vedic acharya' and that he had converted one floor of his ancestral house to an ashram, as per the police report. His mother stays at the ancestral house, while his wife and two children are at a rented home. But he does not maintain much contact with them.
The custody of the 21-year-old woman cannot be entrusted with the petitioner, considering his background, the court reasoned.
