On Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s budget accorded a special status to yoga, announcing that promoting the traditional Indian practice would be considered charitable activity.
“Yoga is India’s well acknowledged gift to the world. It is proposed to include Yoga within the ambit of charitable purpose under Section 2(15) of the Income-tax Act,” Jaitley said.
Last week, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi claimed at a seminar that sexual assaults would decrease if yoga became more widespread.
"I believe if yoga comes into the life of common people, then the daily incidents of rape, I would not say, they will cease to exist, but there will definitely be a decrease in them," he said.
Joshi added, "It will create a new way of thinking amongst men and women. Changing the way one feels for a human body...that the body is such a machine which nature has given us for some larger work... people's attention will go towards this."
Rape charges
That contention flies in the face of allegations facing one of the most prominent yoga teachers in the US.
Bikram Choudhury, America’s celebrity yoga guru who devised a practice called hot yoga, is facing six allegations of sexual assault in a Los Angeles court, with the latest case being filed by his former Canadian student on February 13. Hot yoga involves performing exercises in a heated, humid room.
Vancouver-based Jill Lawler, a former student who now runs her own yoga institute, has accused Choudhury of first molesting her during an instructor training course in 2010, when she was 18 years old. Choudhury allegedly asked her to massage him for hours during “mandatory” late-night sessions of watching Bollywood movies, during which he also groped her.
Lawler says in her complaint that he also repeatedly raped her in his hotel room for the next three years. Choudhury allegedly justified his actions by claiming that he was dying. According to a BBC report quoting Lawler’s complaint, he would say, “I’m dying, I need to you to save me. If I don’t have sex I will die. You are saving my life, you are helping me.”
Slew of accusations
The woman claims she did not drop out of the classes at that time because she had put in at least $10,000 into the course.
Lawler’s is the sixth sexual harassment complaint filed against the 69-year-old yoga teacher, who runs an empire of more than 650 hot yoga studios around the world and has taught celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, David Beckham and Madonna.
The first complaint came in 2013, and the abuse alleged in the complaints span at least the past 10 years. Although six cases are now pending against him, representatives at Choudhury’s Bikram yoga enterprise, however, have denied all the charges.
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“Yoga is India’s well acknowledged gift to the world. It is proposed to include Yoga within the ambit of charitable purpose under Section 2(15) of the Income-tax Act,” Jaitley said.
Last week, veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi claimed at a seminar that sexual assaults would decrease if yoga became more widespread.
"I believe if yoga comes into the life of common people, then the daily incidents of rape, I would not say, they will cease to exist, but there will definitely be a decrease in them," he said.
Joshi added, "It will create a new way of thinking amongst men and women. Changing the way one feels for a human body...that the body is such a machine which nature has given us for some larger work... people's attention will go towards this."
Rape charges
That contention flies in the face of allegations facing one of the most prominent yoga teachers in the US.
Bikram Choudhury, America’s celebrity yoga guru who devised a practice called hot yoga, is facing six allegations of sexual assault in a Los Angeles court, with the latest case being filed by his former Canadian student on February 13. Hot yoga involves performing exercises in a heated, humid room.
Vancouver-based Jill Lawler, a former student who now runs her own yoga institute, has accused Choudhury of first molesting her during an instructor training course in 2010, when she was 18 years old. Choudhury allegedly asked her to massage him for hours during “mandatory” late-night sessions of watching Bollywood movies, during which he also groped her.
Lawler says in her complaint that he also repeatedly raped her in his hotel room for the next three years. Choudhury allegedly justified his actions by claiming that he was dying. According to a BBC report quoting Lawler’s complaint, he would say, “I’m dying, I need to you to save me. If I don’t have sex I will die. You are saving my life, you are helping me.”
Slew of accusations
The woman claims she did not drop out of the classes at that time because she had put in at least $10,000 into the course.
Lawler’s is the sixth sexual harassment complaint filed against the 69-year-old yoga teacher, who runs an empire of more than 650 hot yoga studios around the world and has taught celebrities including Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, David Beckham and Madonna.
The first complaint came in 2013, and the abuse alleged in the complaints span at least the past 10 years. Although six cases are now pending against him, representatives at Choudhury’s Bikram yoga enterprise, however, have denied all the charges.