Close X
Sunday, September 22, 2024
ADVT 
International

Hot Yoga Guru Bikram Choudhury To Pay $6.5 MIllion In Punitive Damages

Darpan News Desk IANS, 27 Jan, 2016 12:09 PM
    After ordering celebrity yoga guru Bikram Choudhury to pay $924,500 in compensatory damages in a lawsuit for sexually harassing and firing a female employee, a US court has told Choudhury to pay $6.47 million in punitive damages.
     
    Plaintiff Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, Choudhury's former legal adviser, said in the lawsuit that he inappropriately touched her and wrongfully fired her in 2013 after she began probing sexual abuse claims from other women.
     
    "I feel elated and vindicated," Jafa-Bodden told the New York Daily News after the Tuesday verdict that was handed down by a Los Angeles jury consisting of six women and three men.
     
    Meanwhile, 69-year-old Choudhury, Kolkata-born founder of Bikram Yoga - a form of hot yoga - testified that he is "almost bankrupt".
     
    Choudhury told jurors he had no income at all last year and his collection of more than 30 luxury cars has been promised to California Governor Jerry Brown for a children's school dedicated to automotive engineering.
     
    Jafa-Bodden filed her lawsuit in 2013 claiming Choudhury sexually harassed her with a barrage of misogynistic comments and threatened her and her daughter's lives when she raised questions about sexual abuse claims brought by numerous women.
     
    Jafa-Bodden testified earlier in the trial that Choudhury made her life a living hell after she moved to the US from India to act as his personal lawyer.
     
     
    In one dramatic account, she said Choudhury ran his finger across his throat when she asked about accusations he sexually assaulted a teacher during a training programme in Acapulco.
     
    In his closing argument on Tuesday, one of Jafa-Bodden's lawyers, Mark Quigley, called Choudhury's treatment of women "shocking".
     
    He highlighted trial testimony from the former White House lawyer who worked for Choudhury after Jafa-Bodden and filed her own wrongful termination lawsuit in August.
     
    The lawyer, Petra Starke, told jurors earlier this month that Choudhury presided over a "crazy" work environment with a "sexually charged atmosphere", Quigley was quoted as saying.
     
    Choudhury gained fame by popularising his sweat lodge-style yoga system which uses a 26-pose routine in a room heated to nearly 38 degree Celsius or more.
     
    Starke testified that she instituted strict sexual harassment policies and training when she took over as CEO and was shocked when she later witnessed Choudhury receiving oral sex from a teaching student in a limo, Quigley said.
     
    The yoga guru also is facing lawsuits by several other women who claim he sexually assaulted or raped them.
     
     
    Choudhury's lawyers, however, say their client is innocent and that prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges in connection with the women's claims.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    In Wake Of Plane Crash, Egypt Opens Ancient Tombs To Spur Interest In Archaeological Sites

    In Wake Of Plane Crash, Egypt Opens Ancient Tombs To Spur Interest In Archaeological Sites
    LUXOR, Egypt — Egypt has opened three tombs in the ancient city of Luxor to the public, hoping to spur tourism interest despite the shadow of last weekend's airline crash in the Sinai Peninsula.

    In Wake Of Plane Crash, Egypt Opens Ancient Tombs To Spur Interest In Archaeological Sites

    Having Studied Free, Founder Of Sun Deep Cosmetics Donates $200,000 To Punjab University

    Having Studied Free, Founder Of Sun Deep Cosmetics Donates $200,000 To Punjab University
    The scholarship and fellowship would be awarded to 13 UIPS students out of the annual interest accrued on the endowment, the spokesman said.

    Having Studied Free, Founder Of Sun Deep Cosmetics Donates $200,000 To Punjab University

    Fired For Taking A Break, Indian-American Nurse Sues Employer

    Fired For Taking A Break, Indian-American Nurse Sues Employer
    An Indian-American nurse has filed a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit against her employer, because she was fired for taking a break as she was suffering from nausea, a media report said.

    Fired For Taking A Break, Indian-American Nurse Sues Employer

    VW Scandal Widens, Hitting Shares, As Carmaker Says Other Kinds Of Emissions Also Understated

    VW Scandal Widens, Hitting Shares, As Carmaker Says Other Kinds Of Emissions Also Understated
    Investors and regulators put more pressure on Volkswagen on Wednesday after the company said it had understated the carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 cars, widening its scandal over cheating on U.S. engine tests.

    VW Scandal Widens, Hitting Shares, As Carmaker Says Other Kinds Of Emissions Also Understated

    British Seeks To Give Police More Access To Citizens' Internet Activity Under New Snooping Law

    British Seeks To Give Police More Access To Citizens' Internet Activity Under New Snooping Law
    The draft Investigatory Powers Bill is intended to replace a patchwork of laws, some dating from the Web's infancy, and set the limits of surveillance in the digital age.

    British Seeks To Give Police More Access To Citizens' Internet Activity Under New Snooping Law

    This 17-Year-Old Is An Author, Has 2 Degrees, Flies Planes And Works With NASA

    This 17-Year-Old Is An Author, Has 2 Degrees, Flies Planes And Works With NASA
    Moshe Kai Cavalin has two university degrees, but he’s too young to vote. He flies airplanes, but he’s too young to drive a car alone.

    This 17-Year-Old Is An Author, Has 2 Degrees, Flies Planes And Works With NASA