The Delhi High Court on Monday criticised a lawyer for calling women a “gateway to hell” in court, PTI reported. The bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, reprimanded advocate Amol Kokane for his comment and warned him about being in contempt of court.

Kokane had made the controversial statement in court while representing a Delhi-based ashram run by Virender Dev Dixit, which is being investigated for allegedly confining women and girls. The lawyer had said: “... According to Shankaracharya, nari narak ka dwar hai [women are the gateway to hell]”. Kokane did not specify who Shankaracharya was, even after the court questioned him. The bench warned him of stern action.

Dixit, the founder of the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya, is being investigated for alleged sexual assault and illegally confining girls and young women at its ashrams.

Scores of girls and women have been rescued from ashrams of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad since December 20 when the high court had asked the CBI to inspect the institute’s Rohini premises.