Yoga School Director Indicted for Sexual Assault and Sectarian Abuses: More Than a Dozen Potential Victims Identified

The director of a kundalini yoga school in Saint-Michel-les-Portes, in Isère, was indicted on Friday for “sexual assault” in a context of sectarian abuses and “concealed work”. More than a dozen potential victims have been identified.

A famous yoga master indicted by the courts. Jean-Louis Astoul, 73, was brought before the investigating judge on Friday October 20 after being placed in police custody on Wednesday. He was indicted for sexual assault, concealed work and placed under the status of assisted witness “regarding abuses of weakness in a context of sectarian excesses”indicates the Grenoble public prosecutor, Eric Vaillant.

Teacher and director of the “Amrit Nam Sarovar” kundalini yoga school in Saint-Michel-les-Portes (Isère), Jean-Louis Astoul is accused of sexual touching committed during “guidance” sessions – consultations individual. A young woman filed a complaint in August 2022 “denouncing three sexual assaults committed between July 2020 and January 2022”adds Mr. Vaillant.

The investigation entrusted to the Monestier-de-Clermont gendarmerie brigade made it possible to identify “four other victims of similar acts committed during this period”some of whom reside in Germany and the United Kingdom, as revealed by the newspaper The world. The yoga master allegedly sexually touched these young women “at a time in their lives when they were psychologically vulnerable and in a state of astonishment”explains the prosecutor again.

In addition to these accusations of sexual assault, Jean-Louis Astoul is also accused of his alleged use of hidden work through volunteers. A practice called “seva”, the concept of selfless service in Hinduism. “These are interns at the center who decided to stay there for a certain time, paying rent and providing household services without remuneration, apart from room and board”specifies the magistrate.

Six to 12 potential victims were identified over a one-year period during the investigation, “but the system has been operating since the creation of the center in the early 2000s and the number of victims is potentially greater”. The courses, provided to several hundred people per year, are billed at around a thousand euros per week, accommodation not included.

The search carried out at the defendant’s home made it possible to discover “more than 60,000 euros in cash”triggering the opening of an incidental procedure, “certain sevas having directly participated in the renovation of his personal home”. Jean-Louis Astoul was placed under judicial supervision with an obligation not to enter into contact with the victims.