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CHANDIGARH. — Devotees of a dead guru who has been in a freezer in northern India since January won a court battle yesterday delaying his cremation for at least another seven weeks. Supporters had approached the court in Punjab state seeking a stay on an earlier order for the cremation of Hindu “godman” Ashutosh Maharaj, whom authorities declared dead on 29 January. “The division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the cremation till February 9,” Swami Vishalanand, a spokesperson for the guru’s ashram, told AFP.

Followers have insisted their spiritual leader is not dead but in a state of deep meditation, and will eventually return to lead them. They have been guarding the ashram in the town of Nurmahal, where Ashutosh’s body has been kept in a freezer as the months-long legal battle has been waged over his future.

Ashutosh, reportedly in his 70s, was one of India’s many gurus and headed the Divya Jyoti Jagrati Sansthan (Divine Light Awakening Mission) that claims to have millions of followers around the world. Devotees have invoked freedom of religion under India’s constitution as reasons against his cremation, which was originally sought in the courts by a man claiming to be the guru’s son. — AFP.