Background: The International Society For Krishna Concious ness (Iskcon) has struggled over the past 20 plus years with the case of Dhanurdhara Maharaj. Dhanurdhara Maharaj was the head master for the Vrindavan boys school during the late 70's. He has admitted to personal child neglect and abuse during his tenure as the schools headmaster. Since then a number of judgments have come against him including an Iskcon Child Protection Office (CPO) case review and judgment. He has, over all, been cooperative to the judgments and has engaged in personal rectification of his actions. Last month a student who was abused by him commited suicide. The backlash from the community has been a rash of emotionally charged letters, a petition for retroactive "zero tolerance" within Iskcon of child abuse which includes all authorities who have had some connection to abuse to step down. The assault on Dhanurdhara Maharaja has encouraged him to leave Iskcon and the position as a guru to his disciples. Below is the reprint of the opinion I wrote to Dandavats.com on the mater.
Dear readers,
I feel, after a lot of thought and introspection, that there is something fundamentally wrong with the approach and process toward the persecution of Dhanurdhara Swami. I feared writing this opinion, due to the present overwhelming sentiment and the potential backlash I may incur in defending the accused, but still I can not help but feel that the basic rights of due process have been trampled under the feet of the “save Iskcon from the abusers” movement.
The emotional and explicit letters, the petition, and the repeated judgments by Iskcon authorities all point to a system of justice within our society that is flawed. In short, in all honest societies, every human being has the natural right, to a bare minimum of fairness or due process. In criminal cases, it ensures that an accused person will not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
For example, Article One, section 9, of the US constitution prohibits ex post facto laws. An ex post facto law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed prior to the enactment of the law. It may criminalize actions that were legal when committed; or aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was at the time it was committed; or change or increase the punishment prescribed for a crime, such as adding new penalties or extending terms. This is exactly what the petition prescribes for Dhanurdhara Swami. To strip him of his Iskcon standing after a judgment has been passed down to him. Also we find in the 5th amendment, the prohibition of double jeopardy or prosecuting someone again for a crime on which a final judgment is already passed.
After reading the CPO verdict and judgment on Dhanurdhara Maharaja, and reading the previous judgments handed to him by the GBC, I feel that he has had his fair share of penalty and persecution. Iskcon is not a democratically elected body. We don’t have the luxury of harassing a local congress man for governmental change. If the devotees at large don’t like the way Iskcon handles its criminals then the fair thing to do is change the system. Create a way in which the public can change the governing laws for the future prosecution of criminals. But the continuous retroactive persuasion of GBC and CPO judgments by angry citizens through emotionally charged articles and petitions is tantamount to mob justice.
Again, I don’t want to be labeled as an enemy of children, a supporter of abusers or whatever fiery words that can be brandished to evade the subject. My point is fairness, justice, due process, not only for the victims but for the criminals as well.
If you would like to read more about due process I have included links to wikipedia. Portions of this opinion where copied directly from wikipedia entries.
Due process - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process
Ex post facto law - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_post_facto
Double jeopardy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_jeopardy
Thank You.
Your Servant,
Jagai-Nitai Dasa
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2 comments:
I agree with all your legalize, however this man beat children until they blead, not once but repeatedly. He covered up his actions, he persecuted children, and destroyed their lives permanently. He is not qualified to be made an Initiating Guru in ISKCON, and that is what everyone is upset about, and why everyone demanded change. All the devotees who are still around and haven't left ISKCON permanently demanded that something finally be done. The firestorm isn't over and there are many other old issues which still remain unresolved and must be healed before ISKCON has any chance of returning to its former glory, or more importantly regaining the trust of the Vaishnava Community.
Thank you for your comment. You are right. Things must seriously change for the devotee community to have respect for Iskcon. Iskcon has lost its dignity over weak judgments and flimsy resolve. I am very pained and embarrassed by these scandals. So I ask you, how should it be done so that the precedence of change doesn’t come through revolution? Doesn’t the aggressive amendment to the established rules really only weaken the society further? Has all the implications of the “zero tolerance” petition been thought out? What about Sanyasis that abandoned their children at a young age, should they be subject to the laws of this petition? What about parents that abused their own children? Will Iskcon publish public reports of domestic abuse to justify its adherence to the "zero tolerance" rule? How will our society fairly implement the rules of this petition? I am all for change. It’s vital to Iskcon’s survival. My problem is with the how part.
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