The National Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government seeking details of the circumstances of Kanchi mutt Junior Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati's arrest.
It also sought information about the reported 'selective leakage' of excerpts of Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati's police interrogation to satellite channels.
The commission asked the state chief secretary and director-general of police to furnish a 'factual report' within two weeks.
The NHRC noted that media reports had pointed that Vijayendra Saraswati was arrested within hours of the Supreme Court directing the release of the senior Shankaracharya on bail.
The reports stated that the police had entered the mutt, 'a place of worship, without any permission', and arrested the junior Shankaracharya while he was offering pooja, the commission said in a statement.
It said media had reported that devotees of the Kanchi mutt felt the absence of the Shankaracharyas would affect the 'centuries-old tradition' of daily poojas and hurt their sentiments.
The NHRC also the telecast of excerpts of the alleged interrogation of Jayendra Saraswati on television 'raises an issue about the rights of a person facing investigation to a fair trial -- a constitutional imperative'.
