Controversies
The Bishops of Bombay have for unstated reasons tried to suppress the Chembur center, largely through the official organ, the Examiner. The Kerala High Court has ordered the Kerala Police to investigate alleged rapes and murders at the Potta Ashram (Divine Retreat Center); the police say that over a ten-year period from 1996 to 2006, there have been at least 975 unexplained deaths or suspected murders at the Potta Ashram. This could be, however, due to the fact that the centre hosts a hospice for patients with AIDS and other incurable diseases.
However the Supreme Court criticized the High Court direction by commenting that "No judicial order can ever be passed by any court without providing a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the person likely to be affected by such order and particularly when such order results in drastic consequences of affecting one’s own reputation."
Read more about this topic: Divine Retreat Centre, Potta, History