K. Attacks on Nithyananda Gurukul in Karnataka and Nithyananda University Yogini Sarvajnanapeetha Gujarat🔗

• 206. In several attacks made on the ASMT monastery during 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2019 the traditional schools (Gurukuls) imparting education inside the monastery had to be shut. The Karnataka State Government was either unable to or unwilling to curtail these attacks and on the contrary, chose to vexatiously prosecute the victims.
• 207. The right of indigenous peoples to education is protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which in Article 14 states that "Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning." Similarly, many international conventions such as UNHR - Article 26; ICESCR - Articles 13 and 14; ICCPR - Article - 18 and 26 rights of religious minorities to offer religious and indigenous education to their children.

• 208. Similarly, the rights of ASMT schools imparting religious and indigenous education are protected under Articles 26, 29, and 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bharat.

• 209. Further to the Government circular F.No. 1-15/2010-EE-4 , the Government of Bharat, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy dated 23 Nov 2010, clearly mentioned that in point 3. - "Institutions. intruding Madrasa and Vedic Pathshalas especially serving religious and linguistic minorities are protected under Article 29 and 30 of the Constitution. The RTE Act does not come in the way of continuance of such institutions or the rights of children in such institutions." This is a well-known fact and is covered by the media.

• 210. Despite various international laws, constitutions principles, central (federal) and state (provincial) laws, and policies acknowledging the right of the indigenous communities to run schools imparting religious and indigenous education, the Government of the State of Karnataka targeted the ASMT Hindu schools (Gurukuls) using a lawfare of vexatious litigation and malicious prosecution.
• 211. On 9 June 2012, the Chief Minister of the State, Sadananda Gowda grossly misused his power and the government machinery to execute a series of State-sponsored terror attacks on the ASMT community. The High Court in its order implicitly exposed this State terrorism, where it termed the entire government process as "illegal", "without any authority", "contrary to law", "without jurisdiction". This did not remedy the situation. There were neither any repercussions for any of the state authorities responsible nor any sign of remorse or apology from perpetrators of the crime – including the Chief Minister of the State.
• 212. Following these illegal orders from the Chief Minister of the state, since August 2012 onwards up to date (2019), there have been consistent efforts by the Karnataka State Government to shut down the Nithyananda Gurukul (the indigenous and religious school run by the followers of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM as per the ASMT tradition.)
• 213. August 2012: The Karnataka State CWC (Child Welfare Committee) sent an independent body comprising citizens to inspect the conditions of the Nithyananda Gurukul. The government's objective was to harass the children, teachers, and parents and to make them wary, and ultimately shut down the Gurukul.
• 214. However, contrary to the expectations of the government the Committee that comprised a group of citizens (similar to a jury) gave a positive report:

"We five members of Child Welfare Committee came to visit the ashram and see the students/children who are staying in the ashram. We found that all children have been taken good care and provided with good food, shelter, and education. We had an interaction with children and we are satisfied with (the) facilities offered. We thank the volunteers, staff, and disciples for cooperating (with) us to carry out our duties and responsibilities. We have advised the staff to obtain prerequisite permission from the women and child welfare department to stay fit institution approval. We wish the ashram all the best in our future endeavors."

• 215. August 2012 to until about a year, July 2013 (and beyond) the Gurukul and other social and spiritual causes of THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM were under constant attack by the media through hate speech for incitement of violence. For example, an attack was executed on 13 January 2014 on Uttarahalli monastery. While all the hate propaganda against THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and the ASMT community was being aired non-stop on Kannada language news channels, the Karnataka State Child Rights commission came to Gurukul without notice and interrogated the children. The Karnataka State Child Rights commission bullied the children. The parents of the children were not present, and no prior permission of the parents or the Gurukul (the ASMT school) was ever sought by the Karnataka State Child Rights Commission. The Karnataka State Child Rights commission came uninvited, without informing, and without permission of any sort. The state authorities could not find anything wrong but the Karnataka State Child Rights Commission and Department of Women and Children and other government agencies kept on making several such visits and harassed the children, intimidating them to leave the school. The Karnataka State Child Rights commission authorities asked children inappropriate and humiliating questions, such as:

• a. They mocked their traditional dressing, demanding them to wear jeans and pants instead of traditional saffron robes.
• b. They mocked the organic vegetarian traditional food that the children were eating.
• c. The children were sitting on the ground and eating, as that is the ancient ASMT tradition, the board questioned that and many simple ancient traditional ancient lifestyle aspects.
• d. They intimidated the children by claiming that they had no future in the Nithyananda Gurukul and that they should leave. The threats were not ordinary and children reported to the Principal of being bullied and harassed by the officers.
• e. The testimonials of the children of the harassment by the various government departments who made several unauthorized visits have been documented by the children and parents.
• 216. 17 Sep 2013, the Karnataka State CWC officials forcibly, cruelly, and illegally interrogated children in the Gurukul. It was done without parental consent, without any video recording. CWC representative Radha. K acknowledging with a signed letter that she came to see gurukul with the police. This visit was after 7:30 PM late-night beyond the time permissible by law (6 PM). The State interrogators shamed, ridiculed, and humiliated the children, particularly girls for their traditional dress, pressured them to quit their spiritual-religious lifestyle.
• 217. 19 Sep 2013, FIR 340/2013 Bidadi PS dated 19-Sept-2013 IPC 186 against Ragasudha Vasundhara Shivanna, the legal counsel for the school and parents, for intervening in the violation of the rights of children and parents and reminding the police officers and CWC team members that it was not appropriate and illegal in fact to interrogate children in absence of their guardians that also after 6 PM (the official raided at 7:30 PM). For this, the government fabricated an accusation of IPC 186 which reads - "Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions. —Whoever voluntarily obstructs any public servant in the discharge of his public functions, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three months, or with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees, or with both."

• 218. 21 Sep 2013, the Karnataka Government District Children Protection Committee (Women and Children Welfare Department) issued a show-cause notice, wherein they made false allegations claiming that children were kept there illegally and ordered parents of all children to appear for interrogation. Parents from all over the country had to fly to meet the government demands, which they did.
• 219. 15 Oct 2013, the parents of the children fight against the government for their constitutional, religious, and human rights to have their children educated as per ancient ASMT tradition. The State Government officers claimed that the parents were fake and demanded them to produce all documents to prove they are the real parents. The parents established this by producing various documents such as – state issues biometric-ids, passports, birth certificates, and other documents. However, the State Government officers maliciously maintained that the children were orphans. They criminally intimated the children pressurizing them to leave the Gurukul and go with their parents or they will be taken away by the Government officers. The entire attack by the government was reported by various politically owned Kannada language news channels that re-iterated the false claims of the government such as the claim the children were orphans and even absurd claims such as that the parents of the children were fake. About 19 children and their parents were intimidated and harassed by the Government officers to the extent that they had no choice other than to leave.
• 220. 16 Oct 2013, in a politically owned neo-Hindutva newspaper, named Hindu Express it was published that the Karnataka State CWC Officer, Shivalingaiah said, "We found the children brilliant". However, the Officer falsely claimed, "But they are not receiving formal education. They (the ashram) do not have accreditation from any government agency, they do not follow the law of the land and do not have an authentic syllabus for the children." Several other politically owned newspapers such as the Deccan Herald also spread misinformation and justified the state's legal terrorism by falsely accusing the traditional school of child rights violation whereas in reality the state was persecuted their children and their parents using vexatious proceedings. The claims of the Karnataka State CWC were malicious, vindictive, and completely counterfactual. The fact that the education was not as per one of the secular state education systems and the fact that as per Right To Education (R.T.E.) Act Section-1(5) - Vedic Pathashalas (Indigenous, religious, traditional Hindu schools) are exempt from the purview of the RTE Act, it simply meant that the CWC had no jurisdiction or rights in interfering with the school. This was also later pointed out by the High Court in its order in a writ petition in 2018. This simply showed that the CWC did not follow any law or procedures and were just twisting logic and violating the law to realize their aim to shut down the Gurukul and deny the children of religious and indigenous education. The children were receiving formal education which was as per IGCSE Edexcel. The authorities were presented the relevant documents such as:

(1) The Certificate of approval of EDEXCEL UK to the Nithyananda Gurukul to offer Non-Religious conventional education with Edexcel Academic Qualifications

(2) Documents showing the recognition of EDEXCEL courses by the central education board – the Council of Boards of School Education in Bharat

(3) Documents showing the recognition by the Association of Hindu Universities for EDEXCEL 10th Grade courses as equivalent to those offered by Hindu boards.

(4) Documents showing recognition by the Association of Hindu Universities for EDEXCEL 12th grade courses as equivalent to those offered by Hindu boards.

None of these submissions remedy the damage and the state continued the lawfare and legal terrorism.

• 221. On 8 Feb 2014, the Officers from the Department of Women and children announced their plans on television to shut down the Nithyananda Gurukul. On multiple occasions - (1) order dated 29 Jan 2014, passed by the Director (2) order dated 11 Feb 2014 passed by the Commissioner - The State Public Education Department, maliciously rejected the application of ASMT community school without providing any hearing which is contrary to the provisions of law as per Karnataka Education Act. On 11 Feb 2014, this was pointed out by the community and submitted in their Amended Writ Petition WP 8805/2013 (END RED) WP-8830-873/2014 .
• 222. Subsequently, on 13 Feb 2014, the State Government sent a notice through the State Police to the Nithyananda Gurukul to shut it down and within a timeline 7 days from receiving the notice to send the children of the Gurukul to a nearby Government school or a private school.
• 223. 14 Feb 2014, the State Minister of education publicly re-iterated the lies spread earlier through the media and ordered the shutdown of the Gurukula arbitrarily without any verification of facts and due process. This was reported in the Hindu newspaper (politically linked to the DK/DMK anti-Hindu terrorists) Vol 45 No. 38 dated 14 Feb 2014, in an article titled "Action to be taken against THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM's gurukula" wherein the State Minister of education parroted the old same lies as earlier.
• 224. 17 Feb 2014, Nithyananda Gurukul appealed in the High Court for a stay order; and it was granted by the High Court.

• 225. 26 Mar 2014, in response to the Writ Petition WP. 8805/2014 (END-RES) the State Government filed a Statement of Objection (BV/ma/26032014/2+1) dated 26-March-2014. The state government made a false statement in court that IGCSE is not recognized by the Government. The state government statement was false – IGCSE is recognized as equivalent to Central and State Education Boards and this is evident by COBSE Circular number COBSE/C.280/2011 dated April 18, 2011; AIA Circular No.EV/II(281/2013/1958 dated Dec 06, 2013; AIA Circular No. EV/II(281)/2008/188 dated December 17/2008 etc.
• 226. The ASMT community submitted an Amended Writ Petition WP 8805/2013 (END RED) WP-8830- 873/2014 to address the lies by the State Government. The community cited the proof showing that IGCSE is a recognized equivalent to Central and State Education Boards. The community also exposed the malicious prosecution of ASMT by the State Public Education Department, that it rejected the application without providing any hearing which is contrary to the provisions of law as per the Karnataka Education Act. As per the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 clause (c) & (d) of Section 2(27) the institutions giving, providing, or imparting only religious instructions as well as the institutions imparting instructions for which there is no approved syllabi or course of studies of the Government. Therefore, the ASMT gurukul is excluded from the purview of the Karnataka Education Act. Despite this, the State Government of Karnataka used the sections of the Karnataka Education Act to persecute the community and its children. As per the Karnataka Education Act, the application for starting a regular school as per the State law should be processed in 3 months. However, the application which was submitted by the ASMT community in 2013 was rejected in 2014 moreover rejection no written reasons for rejection were given which was also illegal. The rejection order denigrated and ridiculed the spiritual names given to students as per native Hindu Vedic tradition and with the consent of parents.
• 227. 17 Sep 2014, even after the stay order the officers of the Department of Women and Children did not stop harassing and made another visit and interrogated the children in the same inhumane, cruel, and degrading manner.

• 228. 19 Nov 2014, further, the Nithyananda Gurukul kept knocking on every door for justice, and approached and submitted an appeal to the Minister for Women & Children, the Chief Minister, the Governor, State, and National Human Rights Commission.
• 229. From 2014 to 2019 for five years the status quo was somehow maintained because of the stay order granted by the High Court on 17 Feb 2014. Various government departments and television channels continued to harass in different ways.
• 230. Finally, on 12 Mar 2019, the High Court passed an order quashing the illegal notice and proceeding of the Department. In the High Court of Karnataka, Writ Petition 8806 of 2014 (Order dated - 12- March-2019), the High Court ordered the Block Education Officer to drop all proceedings against the Nithyananda Gurukul. Some highlights of the court order:
  • a. In point number 12, the High Court recognized that the order by the Block Education Officer was unauthorized. Further, the Court recognized that since the children were not following conventional secular State Education, the notion of Class I to Class X did not apply to them so the notice to shift the children from Class I to Class X out of the Gurukul was unauthorized and did not apply to the Gurukul.
  • b. The High Court ordered the Block Education Officer to drop all proceedings against the Nithyananda Gurukul.
  • c. In the conclusion, the High Court directed the Nithyananda Gurukul to resubmit their application to start another school called THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM Vidyalaya (as per the secular State Board apart from the traditional Nithyananda Gurukul) and directed the Block Education Officer to consider the application without prejudice as per law.
• 231. This did not remedy the situation. Even after March 2019, the Nithyananda Gurukul continue the struggle to run traditional and indigenous traditional schools for the ASMT children despite the hostile government. The caste supremacist media continue their hate speech, slanderous, and defamatory attacks against the Gurukul. The hate speech also continued on social media, and several children were subjected directly to such hate speech attacks. 14 August 2019, only after six months of the court order, finally the Regional Education Officer passed the order (03/2012- 13/19-20 [250/19-20 / 14/8/19]) dated 14 August 2019 to repeal the order of closure of gurukul.

• 232. From 2013 up until 2019, a person named Janardhan Sharma took refuge in the monastery citing a series of heart attacks, heart surgery, and inability to work to sustain himself and his family. He, his wife, and four children were supported by the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and the ASMT community. The children were given free education, free health care, their traveling expenses, etc. were all borne by the monastery. The community tried to support him while his health recovered. To avoid exertion given his fragile health Janardhan Sharma was given simple tasks such as mentoring children studying Sanskrit, for which he withdrew salary but never actually conducted any classes. Janardhan Sharma pretended to be in a key position of power in the monastery during his time and tried to force himself into many negotiations of high-value contracts with external vendors, manipulated the purchase process. By 2019, his two daughters had become Hindu monks and got involved in the temple administration. His daughters (Ma Nithay Tattvapriyanadna and Ma Nithyanandita) while scrutinizing temple purchases discovered the financial irregularities done by their father. Upon being exposed for his crimes and being confronted by his daughters, Janardhan filed a complaint with the Gujarat Police, falsely alleging that his daughters had been abducted. On 2nd and 3rd November 2019, his daughter Ma Nithyanandita met the Gujarat Police officers and gave a handwritten statement denying all allegations of her father as false and baseless. She clarified she was residing in the Hindu monastery of the SPH voluntarily and happily and requested the police to close the false case. This should have officially brought the case to closure, but it did not.

giving her formal statement in presence of multiple police officers of the Gujarat Police. (Right) The photograph of the statement given by Ma Nithyananditha to the Gujarat State Police.

• 233. In November 2019, the State atrocity was much more appalling. On 15 November 2019, the Gujarat State government (CWC) Child Welfare Commission officials raided the female monastery and molested the children studying there, particularly the minor girls and boys studying there. The

Gujarat State CWC officials and the State policemen showed pornography to the children. When a small girl went to change her clothes the state officials peeped into the bathroom. The state officials pulled the Jattas (dreadlocks) of the children causing them physical pain and emotional pain due to the ridicule. The state officials intimidated the children threatening to put them in jail if they did not attest to the views of the state officials. Some officers pressurized the children to eat unhealthy processed substances containing non-vegetarian substances avoided by the ASMT community on religious grounds and for health reasons. Children were traumatized by these harassments and for more than a year, a few children became so afraid of going to the bathroom alone that they would otherwise keep the door open in fear somebody might suddenly barge in. The statement of the children collected by coercion by the Gujarat State CWC officials and the State police and were further manipulated by these officials wherein the officials attributed false statements against the names of the children and included the names of these children as witnesses of these claims (made by the state authorities) in the charge sheet made against the THE SUPREME PONTIFF OF HINDUISM BHAGAWAN SRI NITHYANANDA PARAMASHIVAM and volunteer nuns working in the monastery.

• 234. For the abuse done to children, the CWC officials were pulled up by the parents of these children in the High Court.

A security camera CCTV footage of an officer who was showing a minor girl an obscene scene with his phone.

• 235. Following the High Court order fourteen Gujarat State government (CWC) Child Welfare Commission officials and the Gujarat State government Police officers who had raided the female monastery on the order of a Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Court were booked under POCSO Act for showing pornographic material to children.
• 236. Unable to avail justice, the Hindu monks Ma Nithyananditha, Ma Nithya Tattvapriyananda fled to escape police torture and enhanced interrogation aimed at forcing them to give a false confession. Ma Nithyananditha, Ma Nithya Tattvapriyananda jointly gave several video statements explaining their stand of why they wanted to continue their monastic life and how they were being harassed by the State Police to give false statements. They submitted four signed affidavits to the High Court of Gujarat from (i) Trinidad and Tobago, (ii)Virginia, (iii) Barbados, (iv) The High Commission of Bharat of Kingston Jamaica, which the court finally accepted. In their affidavits they also cited that their

father had sided with highly influential neo-Hindutva politicians who were using the State Police to torture them into a false confession and their fair representation was impossible in Bharat, owing to which they had no option but to flee Bharat and submit their affidavits and video statements to the High Commission of Bharat of Kingston Jamaica only which the courts finally accepted.

• 237. 25 Nov 2019, the police arrested two female monks Ma Nithya Pranapriyananda and Ma Nithya Priyatattvananda from the monastery on false charges of kidnap, of their sister-disciple Ma Nithyananditha. The State arrested them on these false charges without even a warrant grossly undermining their human rights and due process rights. One of the nuns Ma Nithya Pranapriyananda was undergoing catamenial fever. Both the nuns had been interrogated for more than 48 hours without break by the state authorities that had completely exhausted them. The nuns had pleaded for rest for some time but were inhumanely and cruelly treated by excessive use of force by the state police. The police even forcibly entered their room violating their rights to privacy as a person and toppled their bed violating their dignity as women and their chastity as female monks, and dragged them into the police van given that they were weak to walk by themselves. They were kept imprisoned for almost 3 months and until 7 February 2020 (75 days). For these three months of imprisonment, the state police officers several times a day dehumanized the female monks making extremely vulgar, derogatory, and threatening statements such as asking to dance naked which they wished to record live for YouTube. The cruel, inhumane, and denigrating treatment done to the female monks was normalized by publicly ridiculing them on nonsensical allegations such as knowing English better than the local dialect. Upon bail, the court restrained them from leaving the city, while all hotels of the city refused accommodation to them citing fears of police reprisal. These circumstances forced the nuns to live on the streets during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. The false case is still not closed.
• 238. 28 Dec 2019: The State Government completely demolished the monastery infrastructure. The monastery - Yogini Sarvajnapeetha was the biggest female Hindu monastery in the world.

• 239. The police complaint against the State authorities was closed without investigation and the petition to the Court was forced to be withdrawn by the Court. The only women monastery and Hindu University in Bharat were demolished by the State.

IV. Attempts to kill ASMT leader the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism