CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/2/2025

Religion, Meditation, Ayurveda, FLDS

Federalist: Is Your Child's Public School Teaching Eastern Mysticism Like This Chicago Classroom?

"Meditation programs, often led by yoga instructors or trained facilitators. These initiatives are commonly labeled as nonreligious tools to reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance emotional regulation.

Programs like Mindful Schools, Calm Schools, and Quiet Time, the latter promoted by the New Age David Lynch Foundation, have made their way into classrooms across the United States. But what appears to be a neutral wellness intervention is often deeply rooted in Eastern religious traditions, raising concerns about religious freedom, consent, and the psychological safety of children.

One striking example occurred in Chicago, where a Christian student, Mariyah Green, won a $150,000 legal settlement after she said she was coerced into participating in the Quiet Time meditation program. The program involved chanting Sanskrit prayers during a ceremony known as a Puja, an act of worship in Hinduism that includes offerings to deities. Green alleged she wasn't informed of the religious significance and believed participation affected her academic standing and athletic eligibility. Both the Chicago Public Schools and the David Lynch Foundation settled the case, though they denied liability.

In addition to the Mariyah Green lawsuit, other legal battles have highlighted the spiritual nature of school-based mindfulness meditation programs. In Encinitas, California, a group of parents filed a lawsuit in 2013 against the school district for promoting yoga as part of the school day. The parents argued that the program, funded by a $500,000 grant from the K. P. Jois Foundation, a group that teaches Ashtanga Yoga, rooted in Hindu traditions, was inherently religious. Although the court ultimately ruled in favor of the school, the case revealed just how deeply spiritual ideologies can become embedded in the name of wellness. Children were reportedly taught poses named after Hindu deities and encouraged to chant "Om," a sacred syllable in Eastern religions. What the school called physical education, the plaintiffs recognized as indoctrination.

Such programs are spreading across the country. In addition to Mindful Schools, Calm Schools, and Quiet Time programs, many other programs are marketed as secular, science-based tools for improving focus and emotional regulation in schools. Yet a closer look reveals that many of these initiatives often include breathing rituals, body scans, and visualizations, practices directly tied to Hinduism, Buddhism, or New Age belief systems. By avoiding overt spiritual language, they slip past constitutional scrutiny while reshaping the spiritual landscape of the classroom."

JAMA, Medical News & Perspectives, Oct. 2, 1991: "Maharishi Ayur-Veda: guru's marketing scheme promises the world eternal 'perfect health'"

The Minnesota Star Tribune: Grand Marais trial over North Shore land sale renews questions about breakaway Mormon sect leader

"Elissa Wall hasn't seen a cent of the more than $10 million dollars she's owed from a lawsuit against self-described prophet and polygamous cult leader Warren Jeffs.

He doesn't have a bank account, she testified Wednesday afternoon.

Wall is trying to collect money from a land sale conducted, on paper, by his brother Seth Jeffs and his Montana-based Emerald Industries LLC. She's convinced that Seth Jeffs used Warren Jeffs' money to buy 40 acres here in 2018, property that he sold in 2023 for $130,000.

"I'm here to recover the money given to Seth Jeffs," she told the Cook County jury.

According to court documents, Seth Jeffs claims he used his own money to buy the land. He's expected to testify on Thursday.

Warren Jeffs is also named in the lawsuit, but he's currently in a Texas prison where he is serving a life sentence for child sexual assault. He's still in the leadership role he inherited with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, according to Wall.

The fundamentalist sect broke away from Mormonism after the latter moved away from polygamy."

The selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not imply that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly endorse the content. We provide information from multiple perspectives to foster dialogue.

Transcendental Meditation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Finance

​Athmavidya​ Foundation Transcendental Meditation

" ... In 1970, after having trouble with Indian tax authorities, he [Maharishi Mahesh Yogi] moved his headquarters to Italy, returning to India in the late 1970s. That same year, the City of Hope Foundation in Los Angeles gave the Maharishi their “Man of Hope” award."

" ... In January 1988, offices at the Maharishinagar complex in New Delhi were raided by Indian tax authorities and the Maharishi and his organisation were accused of falsifying expenses. Reports on the value of stocks, fixed-deposit notes, cash and jewels confiscated, vary from source to source. The Maharishi, who was “headquartered in Switzerland” at the time, reportedly moved to the Netherlands “after the Indian government accused him of tax fraud”.) Following an earthquake in Armenia, the Maharishi trained Russian TM teachers and set up a Maharishi Ayurveda training centre in the Urals region.  Beginning in 1989, the Maharishi’s movement began incorporating the term “Maharishi” into the names of their new and existing entities, concepts and programmes."

" ... The GCWP unsuccessfully attempted to establish a sovereign micronation when it offered US$1.3 billion to the President of Suriname for a 200-year lease of 3,500 acres (14 km2) of land and in 2002, attempted to choose a king for the Talamanca, a “remote Indian reservation” in Costa Rica."

" ... The Maharishi is credited with heading charitable organisations, for-profit businesses, and real estate investments whose total value has been estimated at various times, to range from US$2 to US$5 billion. The real estate alone was valued in 2003 at between $3.6 and $5 billion. Holdings in the United States, estimated at $250 million in 2008, include dozens of hotels, commercial buildings and undeveloped land. The Maharishi “amassed a personal fortune that his spokesman told one reporter may exceed $1 billion”. According to a 2008 article in The Times, the Maharishi “was reported to have an income of six million pounds”. The Maharishi’s movement is said to be funded through donations, course fees for Transcendental Meditation and various real estate transactions.

In his biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Story of the Maharishi (published 1976), William Jefferson suggests that the financial aspect of the TM organisation was one of the greatest controversies it faced. Questions were raised about the Maharishi’s mission, comments from leaders of the movement at that time, and fees and charges the TM organisation levied on followers. Jefferson says that the concerns with money came from journalists more than those who have learned to meditate."

" ... Just four years after his death, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Rs 60,000 crore fortune is at the centre of an ugly battle between two groups of followers

Maharishi died in February 2008, leaving behind more than 12,000 acres of land across India. all vested with the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM) Foundation, set up by the guru in 1959. The guru established several societies with the SRM Foundation and Maharishi Global University based in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh at the top of the list. The other four educational institutions are Maharishi Shiksha Sansthan, Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vidyapeeth, Maharishi Gandharva Ved Vidyapeeth and Mahila Dhyan Vidyapeeth that run 148 schools in 16 states across India."

" ... Maharishi Nagar Colony in Sector 39 of Noida, which the guru’s followers built in the late 1970s, is in a state of neglect.The colony, spread over more than 900 acres, currently houses four buildings, each with more than 800 rooms. Most rooms lie in total neglect. A helipad once used by the guru is now dedicated to grazing cattle. Local real estate agents peg the worth of the land at Rs 15,000 crore. “The global university no longer operates from here.500-odd devotees of the guru stay in the colony, doing odd jobs to run the ashram.A mere four years after his death, the Maharishi’s legacy in India is in tatters."

References: https://devanpillaitoronto.wordpress.com/tag/transcendental-meditation/

Transcendental Meditation

Transcendental Meditation | athmavidyafoundation.guru

" ... In 1970, after having trouble with Indian tax authorities, he moved his headquarters to Italy, returning to India in the late 1970s.That same year, the City of Hope Foundation in Los Angeles gave the Maharishi their “Man of Hope” award."

" ... In January 1988, offices at the Maharishinagar complex in New Delhi were raided by Indian tax authorities and the Maharishi and his organisation were accused of falsifying expenses. Reports on the value of stocks, fixed-deposit notes, cash and jewels confiscated, vary from source to source. The Maharishi, who was “headquartered in Switzerland” at the time, reportedly moved to the Netherlands “after the Indian government accused him of tax fraud”.) Following an earthquake in Armenia, the Maharishi trained Russian TM teachers and set up a Maharishi Ayurveda training centre in the Urals region. Beginning in 1989, the Maharishi’s movement began incorporating the term “Maharishi” into the names of their new and existing entities, concepts and programmes."

" ... The GCWP unsuccessfully attempted to establish a sovereign micronation when it offered US$1.3 billion to the President of Suriname for a 200-year lease of 3,500 acres (14 km2) of land and in 2002, attempted to choose a king for the Talamanca, a “remote Indian reservation” in Costa Rica."

" ... The Maharishi is credited with heading charitable organisations, for-profit businesses, and real estate investments whose total value has been estimated at various times, to range from US$2 to US$5 billion. The real estate alone was valued in 2003 at between $3.6 and $5 billion. Holdings in the United States, estimated at $250 million in 2008, include dozens of hotels, commercial buildings and undeveloped land.[296] The Maharishi “amassed a personal fortune that his spokesman told one reporter may exceed $1 billion”.Accor ding to a 2008 article in The Times, the Maharishi “was reported to have an income of six million pounds”. The Maharishi’s movement is said to be funded through donations, course fees for Transcendental Meditation and various real estate transactions.

In his biography of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, The Story of the Maharishi (published 1976), William Jefferson suggests that the financial aspect of the TM organisation was one of the greatest controversies it faced. Questions were raised about the Maharishi’s mission, comments from leaders of the movement at that time, and fees and charges the TM organisation levied on followers. Jefferson says that the concerns with money came from journalists more than those who have learned to meditate.[303]"

" ... Just four years after his death, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Rs 60,000 crore fortune is at the centre of an ugly battle between two groups of followers

Maharishi died in February 2008, leaving behind more than 12,000 acres of land across India.  all vested with the Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM) Foundation, set up by the guru in 1959. The guru established several societies with the SRM Foundation and Maharishi Global University based in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh at the top of the list. The other four educational institutions are Maharishi Shiksha Sansthan, Maharishi Ved Vigyan Vidyapeeth, Maharishi Gandharva Ved Vidyapeeth and Mahila Dhyan Vidyapeeth that run 148 schools in 16 states across India."

" ... Maharishi Nagar Colony in Sector 39 of Noida, which the guru’s followers built in the late 1970s, is in a state of neglect.The colony, spread over more than 900 acres, currently houses four buildings, each with more than 800 rooms. Most rooms lie in total neglect. A helipad once used by the guru is now dedicated to grazing cattle. Local real estate agents peg the worth of the land at Rs 15,000 crore. “The global university no longer operates from here.500-odd devotees of the guru stay in the colony, doing odd jobs to run the ashram.A mere four years after his death, the Maharishi’s legacy in India is in tatters."

" ... Ivanka Trump’s Gurus Say Their Techniques Can End War and Make You Fly

Celebs from Katy Perry to Ivanka say Transcendental Meditation helps them focus. The movement’s chief promises more: quasi-magical powers and the ability to steer world events.

The Daily Beast/October 13, 2018

By Justin Rohrlich

When the David Lynch Foundation held a gala for Transcendental Meditation at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., last year, it drew a star-studded crowd. Comedians Jerry Seinfeld and Margaret Cho were there. So was the singer Kesha, as well as White House advisers Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who had recently published a self-help book that included a section extolling TM’s benefits.

It was a pleasant, 77-degree June evening in the District. The guests wore cocktail attire, and the event was set up almost like a Hollywood premiere, with pre-show celebrity interviews on a red carpet. That’s where Kesha asked for a hug from Seinfeld, who brusquely refused her request while cameras were rolling (she later got one from Bob Dylan). Seinfeld laughed with Jay Leno for the cameras; Hugh Jackman, who co-hosted the event with Katie Couric, posed with real estate developer Jeffrey Abramson and his wife Rona. Jay Leno, Ben Folds, singer Angelique Kidjo, classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, and Seinfeld, Cho, and Kesha performed for the assembled luminaries.

The event was yet another sign that TM, with its lengthy (and growing) client roster of the rich and famous, had cemented a place among America’s cultural elites. Although independent estimates vary, TM officials claim that roughly 10 million people have learned the technique, which is meant to control anxiety, reduce stress, and increase their overall well-being.

“Transcendental meditation is a practice I picked up several years ago and I couldn’t do half of what I do in a day without it,” Ivanka Trump wrote in her book. “Twenty minutes is ideal for calming the mind, eliminating distractions, and boosting my productivity.”

The fundraiser promised to provide TM instruction so that underprivileged kids, military veterans, and trauma survivors could avail themselves of its benefits."

" ... David Vago, a Vanderbilt University neuroscientist who studies the effects of meditation, pointed out that all of the Maharishi Effect studies are basically correlation without causation.  “As much as I’d like to believe that crime rates will reduce in a causal response to group meditation increases, I have a hard time buying this kind of correlational research,” Vago told The Daily Beast.

Clinicaltrials [.]gov, which tracks accredited clinical research studies, found 910 studies of mindfulness currently underway, but only 14 studies of TM—half of which began before 2002. While TM officials often note that the National Institute of Health has funded research in TM to the tune of $24 million, that funding ended in 2010.

In 2014, an independent meta-analysis of meditation research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association for Internal Medicine found “insufficient evidence that mantra meditation programs [such as TM] had an effect on any of the psychological stress and well-being outcomes we examined.” An earlier review of TM data by the NIH also found insufficient evidence that TM lowered blood pressure as claimed.

Other assertions have been fact-checked to TM’s detriment. The organization’s American home base of Fairfield, Iowa has a population of roughly 10,000 residents. In 1993, reporter Scott Shane inquired about the crime rate in the area, figuring that crime must be virtually non-existent what with all the advanced meditating going there on all the time. “Crime here is about the same as any small town in rural America,” Fairfield police chief Randy Cooksey told Shane. In fact, Cooksey said, “I’d say there’s been a steady increase. I think, based on my statistics in Fairfield, I can show they have no impact on crime here.”"

" ... Dennis Roark, the former chairman of the physics department at Maharishi University has described TM’s research as “crackpot science.” Roark said he resigned his position after being told to link TM’s effects to legitimate physics—a notion he described as “preposterous.”

“Although there is substantial work in the physics of quantum mechanics giving to consciousness an essential role, even a causal role, there is no evidence or argument that could connect some sort of universal consciousness to be subjectively experienced with a unified field of all physics,” Roark wrote. “In fact, the existing scientific work suggests just the opposite.”

“The style of research they use is what I call ‘painting the bullseye around the arrow,’” says ex-TMer Patrick Ryan, who attended Maharishi International University, the progenitor to MUM, against his Navy master chief father’s advice, and spent 10 years in the movement as a “spiritual warrior” before quitting in the 1980s. “If a bunch of TM meditators get together and the stock market goes up, TM made it happen. If there’s another course and crime rates go down, or if accidents go down, TM created that. Find a positive thing that’s happened and take credit for it.”"

" ... The relentless focus on money is one of the main reasons Southern California meditation teacher Lorin Roche left TM in 1975.

“The whole focus of TM in the United States became to get all the teachers and all the half-million or more people who had learned TM, to go take expensive advanced courses and learn to levitate,” Roche wrote on his personal blog. “Soon there were tens of thousands of Siddhas trying, but failing, to levitate, all across the United States and around the world.”

Roche “benefited from TM tremendously, but it was a different organization when I was there,” he told The Daily Beast. “Once it became worth a billion dollars, it just changed.”

One billion may be a low estimate. According to The Economist, the Maharishi’s land holdings alone were worth $3 billion in 1998. A 2012 investigation by India Today estimated Maharishi’s real estate assets at the time of his death 10 years later to be worth Rs 60,000 crore—roughly $9 billion.

Although private donations have dwindled in recent years, from $31.6 million in 2008 to $1.5 million in 2015, there still seems to be plenty of money around, and there are dozens of separate but related TM organizations across the globe. The Daily Beast’s detailed review of TM-related financial documentation revealed a byzantine tangle of non- and for-profit corporations, global land holdings, and hundreds of millions of dollars—maybe more—flowing each year through the various entities that make up TM."

https://devanpillaitoronto.wo

rdpress.com/tag/transcendental-meditation/

Willard Miller sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole

Iowa Local 5
July 6, 2023

Willard Miller has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years in the 2021 beating death of Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. Judge Shawn Showers handed down the sentence Thursday afternoon after the prosecution presented evidence and testimony in hopes of a lengthier prison term. "Ultimately, while acknowledging your youth and developing brain, I find that your intent and actions were sinister and evil," Showers said.

https://youtu.be/q71mFiOCRJc 

Willard Miller Parents: 2 teens plead guilty in beating death of Iowa teacher

Garima Saini 

PKP News

April 19, 2023

Who are Willard Miller’s parents? Are they going to trial? People are curious to know more about them. You will get complete details about Willard Miller’s parents in this article. Keep reading for more details.

Who Is Willard Miller?

Willard Miller is said to be involved in the murder of his Spanish teacher. Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller have been accused of first-degree murder. Miller and Goodale went through a hearing. Godaale’s trial has been scheduled for next month where Godaale has already given consent to provide evidence against Miller. According to the investigation, she was killed using a tarp, wheelbarrow, and railroad ties. She was severely injured in her head.

Willard Miller

Who Are Willard Miller’s Parents? 

Willard’s mother is Annalisa Clifford Gold who has come forward along with her husband in the murder case of their son, Willard Miller. According to Annalisa, his mother, she has been lied to by the investigators as her son is still being questioned. She had asked Willard to stop asking questions of her son. The county officers arrived at Willard’s house to investigate and arrest him for killing his Spanish teacher. The incident took place one year ago. He was 16 years old at the time of the incident. The Spanish teacher was named Nohema Graber. His mother, Annalisa says that she was lied to by the authorities. She asked them to stop asking questions, Willard.

They still asked him questions and investigate. The prosecutors say that they were not bound to take permission from her. Willard was taken early morning. He was first relaxed by the authorities. Later, she said that she was not having any information about his son’s involvement in the case. Willard was studying at Maharishi School. He was then shifted to Fairfield High School. This was revealed by his parents in a hearing. According to the hearing, he has taken Spanish the previous year and studied it with his teacher, Nohema Graber. He used to score well but did not get an A or B in the subject the previous year. He was a sophomore. Later, his parents also said that his arrest and murder involvement was not informed by the police.

https://pkbnews.in/willard-miller-parents/

Fairfield teen sentenced to life in prison for murder of Spanish teacher

Natalie Krebs

Iowa Public Radio

July 11, 2023

A district court judge sentenced Fairfield teen Willard Miller to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years for the brutal murder of his Spanish teacher over a bad grade.

Miller, 18, and his classmate Jeremy Goodale, 17, pleaded guilty to first degree murder in April for beating 66-year-old Spanish teacher Nohema Graber to death with a baseball bat in a Fairfield park in November 2021.

Miller and Goodale were both 16 years old at the time of the crime.

At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Judge Shawn Showers said he chose to sentence Miller to life in prison due to the brutality of his crime.

"While acknowledging your youth and developing brain, I find your intent and actions are sinister and evil," he said. "Those acts resulted in the intentional loss of human life in a brutal fashion."

Additionally, Showers said Miller and Goodale are responsible for paying $150,000 in restitution to Graber's estate or heirs.

The sentence goes along with the recommendation from prosecutors that Miller serve a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 30 years.

Prosecutor Scott Brown called Miller's crime "heinous and brutal." He described Miller as a "relatively good student" with no previous criminal history.

"He had a lot more support in his life than a lot of other kids his age, and yet. ..this is how he dealt with this problem," he said.

Graber had taught at Fairfield High School for nine years and was a devout Catholic and a beloved member of the community.

She has three children and a husband, Paul, who died of cancer days before Miller's sentencing hearing.

During the hearing, multiple members of Graber's family testified that they believe her death indirectly lead to Paul's late cancer diagnosis.

"I am certain from knowing Nohema for more than 35 years that she would have made Paul see the doctor much sooner for the new pains and skin lesions he was experiencing late last year," Tom Graber, her brother-in-law, said. "She would not have let him ignore these symptoms."

Law enforcement officials detailed how on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2021, Miller and Goodale followed Graber to Chautauqua Park in Fairfield where she was known to walk after school and killed her using Miller's baseball bat, leaving her body under a tarp in a wooded area.

Her body was discovered after her husband and school officials reported her missing the following day. Miller and Goodale's classmates provided police with evidence pointing in their direction.

Police said they believe the teens spent at least two weeks planning the murder because Miller was receiving a failing grade in Graber's class. Goodale was Graber's former student.

Miller's lawyers argued that Miller served as a lookout and denied that he struck Graber with the bat.

"I think the evidence supports what Mr. Miller has said. There was no blood on him. There was blood on Mr. Goodell," said attorney Christine Branstad.

However, Judge Showers said he ultimately concluded it's unclear what Miller's exact role had been, but he had done "immense harm" to Graber's family and the Fairfield community.

"Certainly a high school junior who...formulates a plan with his friend and murderers his Spanish teacher is a dangerous person to the community," he said.

https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2023-07-07/fairfield-teen-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-murder-of-spanish-teacher

CultNEWS101 Articles: 5/23/2023 (Event, Quiet Time program, Transcendental Meditation, Legal, Hillsong)

Event, Quiet Time program, Transcendental Meditation, Legal, Hillsong

Family Survival Trust: Annual Public Event with guest speaker Gillie Jenkinson

"At this event, Gillie will give a brief overview of her experience of joining, life in, leaving and recovering from a British coercively controlling cult – 'The Community'. She will explain some of her journey to becoming a psychotherapist and trainer specialising in supporting others who have left similar groups and/or relationships. She will then introduce you to her ideas about the recovery journey by introducing her Workbook, newly published by Routledge: 'Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth'. There will be time for Q&A."

Date: 30th May
Location: Online, Zoom
Doors open: 6.30pm
Event begins: 7pm

Reason: Establishment Clause Related to School's Transcendental Meditation Program

" ... Court … [concludes that] there is a dispute of material fact and a reasonable jury could—but is not guaranteed to—find that Quiet Time violated the 1st Amendment."

" ... Williams testified that he experienced mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts prior to participating in the Quiet Time program, but that Transcendental Meditation made his struggles worse. When asked to explain how his condition worsened, Williams stated that "not many know about it, but like I killed a couple animals, I was getting in trouble for starting fires in people's garages, trash every in the alley on fire[.]" He then appeared to clarify that he was referring to animals he had harmed before he learned Transcendental Meditation, but viewing this testimony in Williams's favor as the non-movant, the Court concludes that Williams has described his emotional distress injury in "reasonable detail." Furthermore, if a jury concludes that Transcendental Meditation was a religious practice and that Williams was coerced into learning it, that jury could also reasonably conclude that the experience would be "inherently degrading or humiliating" and accept Williams's more conclusory statements as proof of his emotional distress injury..."

NY Times: How a Hip Megachurch Became Entangled in Scandal

"The global megachurch Hillsong was known for its hipster trappings, celebrity congregants and wildly popular worship music in the 2010s, but in recent years it has been more closely tied to a series of scandals, including the firing of its charismatic celebrity pastor, Carl Lentz, for "moral failures."

A four-part documentary series, "The Secrets of Hillsong," premieres on FX on Friday and delves into the turmoil. The series, which is based on a 2021 article in Vanity Fair magazine, features the first interview with Mr. Lentz since he was fired in 2020."

 

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Establishment Clause Related to School's Transcendental Meditation Program

OK, not really, but the judge partly denied the motion for summary judgment, which would allow it to go to trial.

EUGENE VOLOKH

Reason

May 18, 2023

 

From Williams v. Bd. of Ed., decided Tuesday by Judge Matthew Kennelly (N.D. Ill.):

Williams attended Bogan Computer Technical High School (Bogan) in Chicago from fall 2017 until he graduated on June 18, 2019. While Williams was a student, Bogan implemented the Quiet Time program during the 2017–18 and 2018–19 school years….

According to Williams, his first experience with Transcendental Meditation as a part of the Quiet Time program occurred during the 2018–19 school year, when he was eighteen years old. He stated that he did not receive any letters about the program to give to his parents, but in October 2018 he and other students were given a document titled "Quiet Time Program Student Application for Transcendental Meditation Instruction Bogan High School." He also stated that he had been informed that Transcendental Meditation was "a really effective way to meditate and find yourself" and that he signed the form when it was first presented to him because he "was interested learning [meditation] properly."

Although the document included language stating that "learning the TM technique is an optional activity," Williams maintained it was "not optional" and "mandated" for students to sign the document. He explained that this was because students who initially chose not to learn Transcendental Meditation "eventually had to sign up," though "off the top of [his] head at the [moment]" he was unable to name any student who did not sign the document at first and later "was forced to do [Transcendental Meditation]." As for meditating during the fifteen-minute Quiet Time periods, Williams did not dispute that "if [he] didn't want to do [Transcendental Meditation], [he] didn't have to."

In contrast, Principal Aziz-Sims testified during her deposition that students could choose not to learn Transcendental Meditation. She stated that although students who were disrupting others during Quiet Time may have been reprimanded by a teacher, an administrator, or the principal herself, she was not aware of any Bogan student being disciplined for choosing not to learn Transcendental Meditation. She also testified that she approved giving students at least two letters explaining Quiet Time to their parents and allowing their parents to opt out of the program, in accordance with the school's policy regarding student involvement in other school activities.

Sunita Martin, an independent contractor with DLF [David Lynch Foundation] who was involved in implementing Quiet Time, similarly stated that students were given an "opt-out packet" and instructed to "take it home and give to their parent or guardian so that they could look it over and if their parent was not interested in them learning, then they would return that to us so we could know." Students who were interested in learning Transcendental Meditation "could fill out a one-page form with their name, the classroom that they were in so that we could keep record of who was interested and who was not." Various other employees of the University and DLF also testified that learning Transcendental Meditation was optional and that they did not witness any students being required to meditate during Quiet Time.

Williams signed the consent form and began learning Transcendental Meditation in October 2018. He and other students who learned Transcendental Meditation participated in a training course for one hour each day over the course of four days. On the first day of his training, Williams was present for a three-to-four-minute initiation ceremony. The initiation took place at a classroom at Bogan. It involved a Transcendental Meditation instructor placing assorted items in front of a painting of a man and speaking in Sanskrit. The items varied from one initiation to the next, but could include flowers, fruit, a candle, rice, water, and sandalwood powder. Williams testified that he mostly stood and observed the initiation, but at one point the instructor asked him to repeat words in a language that he did not understand. He stated that when he asked what the words he repeated meant, the instructor informed him that those words did not have any meaning. The instructor also gave Williams a "mantra" on his first day of training and instructed him to repeat it while meditating. Williams said that the instructor told him the mantra "didn't have any meaning" and was a tool to help him relax during meditation. He further testified that the "only thing [the Quiet Time staff] claim[ed]" over the course of the program was that "anything they were showing us had no deep significance to it or meaning behind it and just to do [it]." Students who did not learn Transcendental Meditation were neither present for the initiation nor given a mantra.

On occasion throughout the 2018–19 school year, Transcendental Meditation instructors came to Williams's classroom and led him and other students through a meditation. During those sessions, the instructors rang a bell to start meditation, told the students to think of their mantra during the meditation, and rang another bell to end meditation. Not every student in Williams's class meditated during the instructor-led meditations, and Williams stated that he personally practiced Transcendental Meditation approximately twenty-five percent of the time during the fifteen-minute Quiet Time periods until the spring of 2019.

Around that time, substitute teacher Dasia Skinner approached Williams and informed him that she believed Transcendental Meditation was a religious practice. Williams testified that after speaking with Skinner—who was neither trained in Transcendental Meditation nor involved in implementing Quiet Time—and doing "his own research," he concluded that the mantra he received and the initiation ceremony were related to Hinduism. Williams also agreed, however, that the meditation instructors and Quiet Time program staff did not instruct him to "believe in a particular religion or particular deity." Williams stopped practicing Transcendental Meditation after speaking with Skinner, and he graduated from Bogan when the school year ended on June 18, 2019.

The court allowed Williams' Establishment Clause claim to move forward:

The Court … [concludes that] there is a genuine dispute of material fact and a reasonable jury could—but is not guaranteed to—find that Quiet Time violated the First Amendment….

The defendants contend that Williams has failed to satisfy Kennedy v. Bremerton School District's "historical practices and understandings" test. They point out that Williams at most distinguishes Kennedy on the facts but does not discuss or analyze any historical practices relating to allegedly religious activities in public schools. Yet a historical analysis is not necessary in this case. The Court stated in Kennedy that it did not overrule prior decisions in which "[the Supreme Court] has found prayer involving public school students to be problematically coercive." And the Court stated that it "has long held that government may not, consistent with a historically sensitive understanding of the Establishment Clause, 'make a religious observance compulsory.'" A state actor therefore "may not coerce anyone to attend church" or participate in "a formal religious exercise," and "coercion along these lines was among the foremost hallmarks of religious establishments the framers sought to prohibit when they adopted the First Amendment."

The Seventh Circuit has recognized that one test for evaluating Establishment Clause challenges "is known as the 'coercion' test[,]" and "[t]he Supreme Court has applied this test in school prayer cases." Kennedy's extensive discussion of coercion indicates that this test is still good law, as the decision makes it clear that compulsory prayer or other religious activities in schools do not align with this country's historical practices and understandings. Although "[the Supreme Court] has long recognized as well that 'secondary school students are mature enough … to understand that a school does not endorse,' let alone coerce them to participate in, 'speech that it merely permits on a nondiscriminatory basis[,]' " there is also a "traditional understanding that permitting private speech is not the same thing as coercing others to participate in it." To the extent that a school program or activity that causes "some [to] take offense to certain forms of speech or prayer they are sure to encounter in a society where those activities enjoy such robust constitutional protection[ ]" does not violate the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court expressly stated that this was because "[o]ffense … does not equate to coercion."

In applying the "coercion" test, the Seventh Circuit appears to have considered several factors, including whether (1) the school "had a captive audience on its hands," (2) there was any "religious activity in which [students] had to partake," and (3) students "felt pressured to support the religious aspects of the [activity] when they saw others … reflecting on the religiosity of the [activity.]" A state actor need not "act with a religious motive in order to fail the coercion test" when it conducts a school activity "in an indisputably religious setting" or chooses to "affirmatively to involve religion in [a] mandatory [activity]." Because there is sufficient evidence to permit a reasonable jury to find in Williams's favor on each of these considerations, the defendants are not entitled to summary judgment on this point.

A reasonable jury could find that the school had a "captive audience" for both the Quiet Time program overall and the Transcendental Meditation initiation ceremony. The defendants do not dispute that Quiet Time was part of the school schedule at Bogan, and students who did not practice Transcendental Meditation were nonetheless present in classrooms when instructor-led meditation occurred. Nothing in the record suggests that students who did not meditate during Quiet Time could leave the classroom or go elsewhere for those fifteen minutes, and Williams testified that an instructor took him to a separate classroom to witness the initiation ceremony. There is conflicting testimony regarding whether it was optional for students to learn Transcendental Meditation and thus experience the initiation. Williams stated during his deposition that it was mandatory to sign up to learn Transcendental Meditation, but Principal Aziz-Sims [and others] … testified that learning and practicing Transcendental Meditation was optional for students. Because "district courts presiding over summary judgment proceedings may not 'weigh conflicting evidence,' or make credibility determinations," the conflicting testimony of the various witnesses is sufficient to create a genuine factual dispute on whether there was a captive audience for at least the initiation ceremony.

That dispute aside, a reasonable jury could find that the program included a "religious activity in which [students] had to partake[.]"Specifically, there is evidence that a Transcendental Meditation instructor separated Williams from his classmates and brought him individually to a different classroom for the initiation. A reasonable jury could find that Williams, having arguably signed up to be trained in Transcendental Meditation, was then required to observe a religious ceremony in order to learn meditation and was misled about the ceremony's religious nature. The scenario as presented by Williams differs from the school prayer cases and the situation in Malnak v. Yogi (3d Cir. 1979), because there was no imposition or mention of any specific beliefs by the defendants. But the initiation ceremony distinguishes this situation from those cases involving the simple practice of Yoga in schools. The evidence in this record—most notably the details of the initiation ceremony—suggest that a reasonable jury could find that the Transcendental Meditation training as implemented was religious in nature or at least included a required religious ceremony.

{The defendants contend that the Court should not focus on "a one-time, three-minute expression of gratitude the instructor performed[,]" citing to the Supreme Court's statement that "[f]ocus exclusively on the religious component of any activity would inevitably lead to its invalidation under the Establishment Clause." Lynch v. Donnelly, 465 U.S. 668 (1984). Yet the statement in Lynch was in reference to a nativity scene in the context of a Christmas display, and the Supreme Court held post-Lynch that even a two-minute prayer was sufficient to violate the Establishment Clause. Lee v. Weisman (1992).}

Lastly, the Seventh Circuit considered in Concord whether students "felt pressured to support the religious aspects of the [activity] when they saw others … reflecting on the religiosity of the [activity]" in deciding whether a school activity was coercive. Freedom From Religion Found., Inc. v. Concord Cmty. Schs. (7th Cir. 2018). A reasonable jury could find that Williams felt pressured to support the purportedly religious aspects of Transcendental Meditation during the initiation ceremony, when he saw various items placed around a picture of a teacher of Transcendental Meditation while the instructor spoke in a language he did not understand. It is less clear whether Williams would have felt pressured to support the instructor-led meditation in the classrooms, as he conceded that he could not tell whether other students were meditating or "reflecting on the religiosity" of the meditation. There is a genuine factual dispute on this point….

[T]he defendants move for summary judgment on compensatory damages, arguing that Williams has not provided sufficient proof of emotional damages. There is no evidence that Williams sought medical or mental health care as a result of his alleged distress from the Quiet Time program, but "an injured person's testimony may, by itself or in conjunction with the circumstances of a given case, be sufficient to establish emotional distress without more." "The more inherently degrading or humiliating the defendant's action is, the more reasonable it is to infer that a person would suffer humiliation or distress from that action; consequently, somewhat more conclusory evidence of emotional distress will be acceptable to support an award for emotional distress." However, "[w]hen the injured plaintiff's testimony is the only proof of emotional damages, [he] must explain the circumstances of [his] injury in reasonable detail; [he] may not rely on conclusory statements."

Williams testified that he experienced mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts prior to participating in the Quiet Time program, but that Transcendental Meditation made his struggles worse. When asked to explain how his condition worsened, Williams stated that "not many know about it, but like I killed a couple animals, I was getting in trouble for starting fires in people's garages, trash every in the alley on fire[.]" He then appeared to clarify that he was referring to animals he had harmed before he learned Transcendental Meditation, but viewing this testimony in Williams's favor as the non-movant, the Court concludes that Williams has described his emotional distress injury in "reasonable detail." Furthermore, if a jury concludes that Transcendental Meditation was a religious practice and that Williams was coerced into learning it, that jury could also reasonably conclude that the experience would be "inherently degrading or humiliating" and accept Williams's more conclusory statements as proof of his emotional distress injury….

EUGENE VOLOKH is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA. Naturally, his posts here (like the opinions of the other bloggers) are his own, and not endorsed by any educational institution.

https://reason.com/volokh/2023/05/18/establishment-clause-related-to-schools-transcendental-meditation-program-send-to-transcendental-mediation/

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Switzerland

Bob Zanotti

Switzerland Sound

On February 5th, 2008 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi died at his international headquarters in The Netherlands at the age of 91. He was the founder of the Transcendental Meditation Movement, and probably best known as the spiritual teacher of the Beatles and other celebrities back in the 1960’s and 70’s.

What has been forgotten over the years is Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s close connection with Switzerland. One of my assignments as a young journalist with the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation back in 1978 was to prepare a feature on Transcendental Meditation, which had chosen Seelisberg above the Lake of Lucerne as its world headquarters. The Movement had taken over the “Sonnenberg”, a former grand hotel in need of repair – at one time, the home away from home of the traveling rich and famous from all over the world, who went there for so-called “mountain cures” or just to enjoy the beautiful scenery. At the bottom of the cliffs in front of the Sonnenberg is the Rütli Meadow, the birthplace of the Swiss Confederation in 1291.

Maharishi often declared his happiness in being in Seelisberg, calling it a place of peace and the most creative place in Central Europe. In the heyday of the TM Movement in Seelisberg, the tiny village was filled with Swiss and foreign outsiders, who had flocked there to attend lectures given by Maharishi, or to become teachers of the Transcendental Meditation technique. At the same time, Seelisberg became the headquarters of MERU, the Maharishi European Research University, which conducted scientific research into the beneficial effects of TM, which was later recognized by the World Health Organization.

But the influx of so many hundreds of extra people into the small village – many looking out-of-place because of their exotic dress – led to suspicion and irritation among the locals – so much so that the authorities decided that the TM headquarters could stay, but Maharishi would have to limit his entourage to a small handful of people during each period of residence. This was not acceptable, so Maharishi quietly left for The Netherlands, which became his new home and center of operations until his death.

Today, the TM facility at Seelisberg remains and is still a busy place, albeit on a much smaller scale than in the 1970’s and early 80’s. MERU is nominally still there, although the main thrust of activity now involves the training and development of the so-called “Mothers Divine”, a group of advanced female TM practitioners. In addition, there is the nearby Maharishi Medical Centre, a separately-run, public clinic devoted to the practice of the traditional Indian medical system called Ayurveda, which was heavily promoted by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

There is no question that Seelisberg witnessed some of the greatest moments in the history of the Transcendental Meditation Movement, and it will be remembered by many as the geographical center of the Movement’s golden age.

Through the courtesy of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation we can feature the accompanying audio file, which is the recording of an exclusive interview I had with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Seelisberg in 1978. In it we discussed the origin and benefits of TM, the Movement, and now most appropriately, what would happen after his death.

https://switzerlandinsound.com/maharishi-mahesh-yogi-and-switzerland/

Donor's wife sues Maharishi University in Fairfield over stock mixup, claiming she lost $500k

Tyler Jett

Des Moines Register

April 19, 2022

In December 1984, Mary and Phillip Town gave a gift to Maharishi International University: 166,667 shares in their organic farming startup.

But, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court, officials at the Transcendental Meditation school in Fairfield, Iowa, preferred cash. So the Towns gave the school about $21,000 in exchange for the return of the shares, according to the lawsuit.

Mary Town said university officials never properly signed documents turning the shares back over, an issue that came to a head two years ago when an Austrian company bought the business that her husband and a business partner started.

Mary Town’s lawyer estimated in a lawsuit filed against the university Thursday that it ultimately received about $500,000 because it was still the registered owner of those shares when the sale went through. She is demanding to be repaid the amount the school received.

"MIU's enrichment was at the expense of Town," her attorney, Jeff Stone of Cedar Rapids, wrote in the lawsuit.

Mark Zaiger, a Cedar Rapids lawyer representing the school, declined to address the details of the allegation.

"MIU does not respond outside of court regarding pending litigation matters," he said in an email to the Des Moines Register. "I can tell you, however, that MIU has a policy to seek resolution of disputes as they arise."

The start of Maharishi International University and an organic farming company

The roots of the lawsuit begin in the late 1970s, when the Towns lived in southern California. Phillip Town was working in real estate and went into business with another local agent, Bill Witherspoon.

Witherspoon told the Register that he and Phillip Town meshed well, and they believed they could form a successful business partnership. Phillip Town had a head for numbers and enjoyed researching potential investments. Witherspoon, meanwhile, was creative — a lover of science who previously lived alone as a painter in rural Oregon.

Both men happened to practice Transcendental Meditation, a method created by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the mid-1950s .  

After attending training in Colorado in 1970, Witherspoon said he became a TM teacher and eventually oversaw other teachers throughout the Midwest. In 1973, he helped establish Maharishi International University after an Iowa banker who was also part of the movement found property in Fairfield for a reasonable price.

But Witherspoon said the movement didn’t pay him enough to support his family, so he took up real estate in California. After he and Phillip Town went into business together, the two bought vineyards and farms, growing almonds, peaches, plumbs, stone fruit and walnuts.

Witherspoon said he and Phillip Town were unhappy with the chemicals needed to protect the crops. In 1982, they formed Westbridge Research Group in Vista, California, selling organic products that helped crops grow faster, repel bugs and survive during periods of drought. He said Dr. Jonas Salk, the inventor of the polio vaccine, became a board member.

 

Medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk studying slides in his laboratory, following the invention of his pioneering polio vaccine, circa 1957.

A few years later, Witherspoon and Phillip Town stepped back from running the day-to-day operations. Both moved to Fairfield to be closer to the university and raise their families in a quiet community. They started other companies, which weren’t successful, and Witherspoon returned to full-time painting.

He said he and Phillip Town agreed in 1984 to each donate 166,667 shares of Westbridge stock to the school. He said they both believed the Transcendental Meditation movement improved people's lives.

"I wanted to do whatever I could to promote the wellbeing of the planet," Witherspoon said. "The people in it. The animals in it. The air. The water. The whole thing."

A stock transfer that never transpired

According to the lawsuit, Maharishi International University development officer Bobby Warren told the Towns that the school would prefer a cash donation instead of the shares. Mary Town alleges in the lawsuit that Warren agreed to return the shares in exchange for the donation. 

Witherspoon told the Register that Warren made the same request to him, which he denied.

"I said, 'No way. You guys just sit on it. Relax,'" Witherspoon recalled. "Of course, I didn’t have $20,000" to give. 

He added: "The stock didn’t have significant value at that time. It had just been sitting and sitting and sitting. And nobody was following it. And to be truthful, it wasn’t worth a whole huge amount.

"Later, it turned out to be worth a lot."

The Towns reportedly gave the university $21,000. According to a letter attached to the lawsuit, university treasurer Ken West wrote to Security Pacific National Bank in March 1990, asking an employee to "please transfer 166,667 shares of Westbridge Research Group stock ... from Maharishi International University to Mary Town."

West sent the original stock certificate to Phillip Town. But, according to the lawsuit, West didn't sign where he was required, therefore the university did not properly register the stock's transfer.

Mary Town, who now lives in Wyoming and is no longer married to Phillip Town, met with university officials in the summer of 2014 to discuss the issue. According to the lawsuit, university officials acknowledged at the time that they should have registered the stock transfer.

Emails attached to the complaint outline Mary Town's attempts to get university attorney Caterina Roesler to finalize the transfer. 

Mary Town asked Roesler on Oct. 16, 2014, whether she had requested new stock certificates from Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Co., which records share ownership for businesses. 

Roesler responded to a second email Mary Town sent six weeks later, telling her that the paperwork to request the certificate was sitting on her desk. She asked Mary Town if they could "do it together over the phone."

"It would help to get it done," Roesler wrote on Nov. 30. "I am really sorry that it is taking so long."

When Mary Town followed up again a few months later, Roseler wrote that she had requested a new certificate from Continental.

"Let's see what they say," Roseler wrote in May 2015.

The lawsuit does not mention what happened next until April 2020, when Austria-based Erber Group bought Westbridge. According to a shareholder letter from Westbridge President Tina Koenemann, the deal would net investors about $10 per share, plus a cash dividend. The letter does not outline the dividend amount each investor would receive.

According to the lawsuit, the university redeemed payment for the 166,667 shares when Erber Group's acquisition closed. Mary Town learned about this from her ex-husband in October.

Phillip Town, who is now an investment adviser in Georgia, did not return an email or a phone call this week.

How much money are those shares worth?

The lawsuit does not make clear exactly how much money Maharishi International University received because of the Westbridge sale. Stone, Town’s attorney, estimated in the complaint the deal netted the school about $500,000.

Witherspoon said $500,000 is "on the low side" of what the shares were worth. In the years leading up to the sale, Westbridge paid dividends to shareholders, which Mary Town did not receive, he said.

He added that Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Co. likely has a straightforward accounting of how much money the university received over the years since they held Mary Town's shares.

"It could be nailed down," he said. "I'm sure it will be."

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at tjett@registermedia.com, 515-284-8215, or on Twitter at @LetsJett.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2022/04/19/fairfield-iowa-maharishi-international-university-sued-by-mary-towns-over-stock-mixup/7366239001/

Ayodhya: Kin of officials bought land from trust under probe for illegal transfer of Dalit land

Ayodhya: Kin of officials bought land from trust under probe for illegal transfer of Dalit land

At the heart of this network of transactions is Mahesh Yogi-founded Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust (MRVT) that had, in the early 1990s, acquired large tracts of land in the village of Barhata Manjha, less than 5 km away from the Ram temple site.

Shyamlal Yadav, Sandeep Singh

Indian Express

January 7, 2022 

At least four buyers are closely related to officials probing the seller for alleged irregularities in land transfer from Dalit residents.

In the flurry of land deals in Ayodhya, one set of transactions raises critical questions of propriety and conflict of interest. At least four buyers are closely related to officials probing the seller for alleged irregularities in land transfer from Dalit residents.

At the heart of this network of transactions is Mahesh Yogi-founded Maharshi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust (MRVT) that had, in the early 1990s, acquired large tracts of land in the village of Barhata Manjha, less than 5 km away from the Ram temple site, and some other surrounding villages in Ayodhya. Of this land, nearly 21 bighas (about 52,000 sq m) was bought from Dalits in apparent violation of norms.

With the Uttar Pradesh Revenue Code Rules (since 2016, and Zamindari Abolition Act prior to that), barring acquisition of agriculture land (if owned less than 3.5 bigha) belonging to Dalit persons by a non-Dalit – unless cleared by the District Magistrate — MRVT bought land parcels from about a dozen Dalit villagers in 1992, using Ronghai, a Dalit employee of MRVT, as a conduit.

Records show sale deeds were registered in the name of Ronghai. Subsequently, Ronghai signed an unregistered donation deed (daan-patra) in June 1996 and “donated” it all to MRVT – this was listed in khatauni (land records), as per records verified by The Indian Express, in the name of MRVT on September 3, 1996.

Records of each purchase investigated by The Indian Express show that, together, this entire land was bought by MRVT — via Ronghai — for approximately Rs 6.38 lakh. As per current circle rate in the area (applicable since August 2017), this is worth Rs 3.90 crore to Rs 8.50 crore.

One of the Dalit residents whose land was bought by Ronghai and “donated” to MRVT was Mahadev – he got Rs 1.02 lakh for his 3 bighas, as per records. In September 2019, when MRVT started selling parcels from land bought via Ronghai, Mahadev complained to Board of Revenue that his land had been “illegally transferred”.

On his complaint, a committee comprising Additional Commissioner Shiv Pujan and then Additional District Magistrate Gorelal Shukla was set up to probe the transfer.

Records show that on October 1, 2020, the then District Magistrate, Anuj Kumar Jha, approved this committee’s report recommending action against MRVT and certain government officials for “illegally transferring land (of a Scheduled Caste person) through an unregistered donation deed”.

This was approved by Ayodhya Divisional Commissioner MP Agrawal on March 18, 2021 and a case was finally filed on August 6 this year in the court of the Assistant Record Officer (ARO) Bhan Singh in Ayodhya for “correction” of the order of August 22, 1996, and to “return the land in question to the state government.”

Even as Agrawal, the appellate authority for applications filed for revision/review of revenue orders, forwarded the inquiry report to the Board of Revenue for action, his relatives bought land from MRVT.

In fact, while the case against the trust is pending, Agarwal’s father-in-law and brother-in-law had bought 2,530 sq m and 1,260 sq m land, respectively, on December 10, 2020 from MVRT in the Barhata Manjha village.

Close relatives of two other government officers – then Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) Purushottam Das Gupta and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Deepak Kumar – also bought 1,130 sq m on October 12, 2021, and 1,020 sq m on September 1, 2021, respectively, from MRVT.

Gupta was Chief Revenue Officer in Ayodhya for almost three years till September 2021. As CRO (an officer of Additional District Magistrate rank), he was responsible for all land matters delegated to him by the District Magistrate in Ayodhya.

Amongst others, who bought land from MRVT in Barhata Manjha village are Indra Pratap Tiwari (alias Khabbu Tiwari), the MLA from Gosaiganj in Ayodhya district (2,593 sq m on November 18, 2019); and Umadhar Dwivedi, an IAS officer of UP cadre who retired as Commissioner, Allahabad (now Prayagraj) nine years ago, and now lives in Lucknow (1,680 sq m on October 23, 2021).

The plots purchased by relatives of these officials don’t fall in the 21 bighas under dispute but local officials say that the fact that the seller in all these cases is MRVT, named as an accused, raises questions of propriety.

Ronghai and his family, meanwhile, continue to live far away from Ayodhya in Sahavpur village, about 25 km from Prayagraj.

While Ronghai was not available in his residence, his wife Ghabrain and daughter-in-law Kachhrahi said they possessed less than 2 bigha in their village. “I don’t know about any land in Ayodhya. He (Ronghai) never told us about such a deal. He has not visited Ayodhya for several years,” said Ghabrain.

When contacted, Mahadev, the original complainant, said, “We had sold a part of land and MRVT did not take its possession for several years. We came to know only when property dealers told us they have bought the land. They wanted to occupy even the adjoining land that belongs to me which I did not sell.”

When asked about Ronghai’s daan patra, Salikram Mishra, a trustee in MRVT, told The Indian Express, “Ronghai worked with us for few years. People are raising this issue after 28 years as they are aware of increasing land prices. We had hired many retired officials of revenue department so I am sure all required legal formalities must have been fulfilled when deals were made.”

When contacted, Anuj Jha, who is now Director, Panchayati Raj, said: “I ordered the probe. The case is currently in the ARO (assistant records officer) court.”

25 YEARS ON, A CASE IS REGISTERED

1990s: Maharishi Ramayan Vidyapeeth Trust acquires large tracts of land in villages in Ayodhya. It got a Dalit employee, Ronghai, to buy nearly 21 bighas from their Dalit landowners.

June 3, 1996: Ronghai signed an unregistered donation deed (daan-patra) and donated the entire 21 bighas to MRVT.

September 3, 1996: The said land is listed in the name of MRVT in records.

September 18, 2019: Mahadev, a Dalit villager in Barhata Manjha village, files a complaint with the Board of Revenue that land belonging to Dalit families has been “illegally transferred” to a non-Dalit.

October 30, 2019: On the order of Board of Revenue, Divisional Commissioner, Ayodhya sets up a committee comprising Additional Commissioner Shiv Pujan and then Additional District Magistrate Gorelal Shukla.

February 1, 2020: The two-member committee submits the inquiry report to MP Agrawal, Divisional Commissioner, Ayodhya.

October 1, 2020: Then District Magistrate Anuj Kumar Jha approves the inquiry report and recommends action against MRVT and certain government officials for “illegally transferring land (of a Scheduled Caste person) through an unregistered donation deed”.

March 18, 2021: Divisional Commissioner Agrawal approves the inquiry report and forwards it to the Board of Revenue for further action.

August 6, 2021: A case is filed in the court of the Assistant Record Officer (ARO) Bhan Singh in Ayodhya for correction of the order of August 22, 1996, and “return the land in question to the state government.”

[Update: Ronghai, who is 60 plus now, called The Indian Express on January 7 on phone and said, “I still work with them (MRVT) and get Rs 5000 per month salary from Delhi (the MRVT headquarters).” He said he is working in a family in his village which is associated with MRVT and gets salary from MRVT. When asked, he said he is not aware of the cancellation of the donation deed about transferring 21 bigha Ayodhya land to MRVT. When asked about a possible legal battle, he said, “Mere paas paisa nahin hai ladne ke liye, main kaise karunga (I don’t have the money for legal battle, how will I do this?).”]

https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/ayodhya-dalit-residents-land-illegal-transfer-7684341/