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19TH
FEBRUARY 2000
Welcome to the
13th edition of our newsletter, which deals with a sensational
development in the ongoing court case that has been filed against
the GBC and all the Gurus in the Calcutta High Court. We also give
evidence of our determination to spread legal action to the USA if
necessary to defend Srila Prabhupada's movement.
Please read on:
1. GBC Facing Perjury Charge in Calcutta High Court
2. IRM Devotees Ready For Court Action in USA
As you know we
currently have a landmark court case filed against the GBC and all
ISKCON Gurus in the Calcutta High court, where we are calling for
the re-introduction of Srila Prabhupada's final July 9th directive.
As part of that case, we had submitted our affidavit with documents
such as Srila Prabhupada's Last Will and Testament etc., in support.
The GBC had also tried to reply by submitting their
affidavit-in-opposition supported by various documents. One of the
documents the GBC submitted in support for their case was ISKCON's
Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations.
It was attached to their affidavit as 'Annexure E'. Unfortunately
the document they submitted differs in one very significant respect
from the actual Memorandum of Association which is filed by ISKCON
in the Charity Commissioner's office in Bombay. In the original
Memorandum of Association, clause 5 states the following:
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"5: The full management and control of the
affairs of the society shall be entrusted to and vest in the
Bureau of the Society."
(Original Memorandum of Association) |
However in the
version filed by the GBC, this clause 5 has now mysteriously
disappeared. Instead it has been replaced with the following:
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"5A :The Acharya shall mean HDG A C
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ordained minister and
founder Acharya of the society and persons or person
appointed by His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami
Prabhupada."
(Memorandum of Association filed by GBC) |
What makes this
fabrication even more significant of course is that the clause which
they have added, directly allows for the possibility that Srila
Prabhupada could and would 'appoint acharyas'. This of course has
direct relevance to the case in hand, since it supports the GBC's
defence that Srila Prabhupada set up 'Guru/acharyas' to replace him,
rather than having the July 9th directive continue. However luckily
for the cause of truth, this forgery was spotted by Madhu Pandit
prabhu, who as the former secretary of the ISKCON Bureau, as well as
being the legal officer for the whole of ISKCON Bureau's affairs in
India, was well equipped to catch this deviation from the actual
documents which are filed in the Charity Commissioner's office.
(The Bureau is the vehicle by which ISKCON is *legally* governed).
This fabrication has very serious implications for the GBC, since by
submitting false documents the GBC have actually committed a
CRIMINAL offence. And the case we have filed against them calls for
appropriate criminal punishment to be meted out. Thus whilst they
were struggling to handle our original case, having lost the
preliminary rounds, they are now faced with another case, which has
even more serious implications. And as we reported in our previous
Newsletter, they will now have to also do without the help of their
star 'defender of truth', the child rapist, Satydhanya Das.
The relevant clauses from our petition to the court are as follows:
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10. It would be evident from a comparative
study of the copy of ISKCON's Memorandum of Association as
produced by your petitioners herein and the copy of the
alleged Memorandum of Association of ISKCON as produced and
relied upon by the respondents that clause 5A in the copy of
ISKCON's alleged Memorandum of Association produced by the
respondents is an unauthorised addition and /or
interpolation. In other words, the said purported copy of
the alleged Memorandum of Association of ISKCON as produced
by the respondents is a forged and /or manufactured
document.
11. Your petitioner obtained a certified copy of ISKCON's
Memorandum of Association on or about August 1, 1999 and
only thereupon your petitioners came to realise that the
purported copy of the alleged Memorandum of Association of
ISKCON produced and relied upon by the respondents before
this Hon'ble Court was is a forged and /or fabricated
document.
12. The aforesaid forged document was produced and was
sought to be relied upon by the respondents obviously to try
and sustain their wrongful contention that the "Ritviks"
appointed by Srila Prabhupada can claim to be or set as
"Acharyas" or "Guru" in their own right and /or that such ritviks can initiate disciples to ISKCON's order as their
own disciples.
13. Your petitioners reiterate that Clause 5A contained in
the purported copy of the alleged Memorandum of Association
of ISKCON as produced and relied upon by the respondents is
the result of forgery, fabrication and /or interpolation and
the said Clause does not find place in the actual and
authentic copy of the real Memorandum of Association of
ISKCON.
14. From the facts and circumstances aforesaid, it would be
evident that the concerned respondents have given false
evidence by way of, interalia, Annexure "E" to the said
affidavit affirmed on their behalf on 30th April, 1999 and
filed before this Hon'ble Court. The concerned respondents
have given such false evidence knowing or believing the same
to be false and touching on material points in issue in the
instant proceeding.
19. In the premises, the said respondents have committed
offences, inter alia, within the meaning of sections 193,
196, 199, 200 and 209 of the Indian Penal Code and the said
respondents are liable to be prosecuted under Section 195
(1)(b) read with Section 340 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973.
20. Your petitioners state and submit that it is expedient
in the interest of justice that an enquiry be made into the
offences committed by the concerned respondents in and or in
relation to the present proceeding and this Hon'ble Court be
please to record a finding to that effect and direct the
Registrar, Original Side of this Hon'ble Court to lodge a
complaint in writing and send it to the Metropolitan
Magistrate, Calcutta having jurisdiction to try the offences
so that the said respondents may be punished for committing
the said offences.
23. The orders prayed for herein are necessary not only for
the purpose of punishing the concerned respondents for
having committed the aforesaid offences within the meaning
of the Indian Penal Code but also for the purpose of
upholding and preserving the dignity, majesty and sanctity
of this Hon'ble Court and of the proceedings before it. No
litigant should be allowed to get away with impunity after
having given false evidence on oath before this Hon'ble
Court deliberately and intentionally as the said respondents
have done in the instant case.
Your petitioner, therefore humbly prays to Your Lordships
for the following orders :
a) An enquiry be made into the offences committed by the
concerned respondents within the meaning of the provisions
of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 in relation to the
above suit.
b) After such enquiry as mentioned in prayer (a) above, this
Hon'ble Court be pleased to record a finding that an enquiry
should be made as to the offences committed by the concerned
respondents within the meaning of the Indian Penal Code as
stated in this petition.
c) A written complaint be lodged or directed to be lodged by
this Hon'ble Court in respect of the aforesaid criminal
offences committed by the concerned respondents to the
Magistrate having jurisdiction in the matter with a
direction to institute appropriate criminal proceedings
against the said respondents.
d) Sufficient security be taken by this Hon'ble court for
ensuring appearance of the concerned respondents before the
Learned Magistrate.
e) An order be passed binding over the concerned respondents
to appear and give evidence before the Learned Judge.
f) An order be passed sending the concerned respondents
(including the principal officers of the respondent No. 1)
in custody of the Learned Magistrate (Extracts From the
Petition Submitted to the Court) |
If found guilty
the GBC will now be facing imprisonment.
Of course the GBC may have some legitimate reason why the Memorandum
of Association that they have submitted differs from that registered
in the Charity Commissioner's office. They may try argue that Srila
Prabhupada sanctioned such an amendment to be made. However this
would then only raise further problems. Since then they would be
guilty of having registered the society all these years with a false
registration document - which would then give rise to another court
case, which would have implications for the whole of ISKCON.
Either way the chances that the GBC will prevail in this court case,
and thereby continue to defy Srila Prabhupada's final orders, are
receding daily.
We will keep you updated on further developments.
We have
reported in the past about the intimidation and threats that our New
York devotees have received from the 'official' ISKCON temple in
Brooklyn (Please see story 'Showdown in Brooklyn',
Newsletter No. 4).
However we also
reported that our IRM (ISKCON Revival Movement) devotees were
undeterred and continued to visit the temple in Brooklyn, and openly
speak to anyone who wished to hear, about Srila Prabhupada's Final
Order. Being unable to silence them, this campaign of harassment by
the temple authorities culminated last year with the Temple
President of New York, Romabhadra Das, issuing the following
threatening letter to the IRM devotees:
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International Society for Krishna
Consciousness
305 Schermerhorn St.
Brooklyn, New York 11217 Tele/Fax 718-875-6127 October 31,
1999 Re: Warning Letter of Proponents of the ISKCON Outlawed
Deviant "Ritvikism"
theory.
Brahma Bhuta das, Vani dasi, Jayananda das, Bhakta Avatar
das.
Dear Brahma Bhuta das, Vani dasi, Jayananda das Bhakta
Avatar das Please accept my respects.
This is a final warning letter concerning your propagation
of the deviant "Ritvik" theory at the Hare Krishna Temple.
This deviant "Ritvik" theory has been outlawed in ISKCON and
is a danger to our many loyal and devoted congregation
members.
Unless all of you cease and desist to propagate this
outlawed deviant philosophy here at the temple we will have
to revoke your membership and prohibit you from attending
any temple functions.
Please cooperate and behave according to the rules of
ISKCON.
I hope this meets you in the best of health.
Your insignificant servant,
Romabadra das President |
Of course this
warning letter is nothing new in the pattern of violence and
harassment that the GBC and its agents have perpetrated in order to
maintain their defiance of Srila Prabhupada's Final Order.
However what was completely new and unprecedented, was what was to
come next. Normally devotees are forced to give in to these bully
boy tactics. However as we have shown with our court case in India,
the IRM will fight back every inch of the way, and are not going to
passively allow such intimidation to scare us.
We immediately hit back by having the following letter from our New
York attorneys served upon the whole board of the Brooklyn temple:
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Gary Edward Hanna,
Attorney at Law,
225 Broadway Suite 2700,
New York,
New York 10007
November 12, 1999
International Society for Krishna Consciousness
305 Schermerhorn Street
Brooklyn,
New York 11217
Re:
Warning letter
Dear
Ramabhadra das a/k/a David P. Britten,
President:
Please allow this letter to serve as formal notice of our
representation of Brahma Buta, Jayananda Dasa, Vani Devi
Dasi, and Bhakta Avatar, also known respectively as Bill
Wulfhoop, John Joseph, Bonnie Oshuns and Bhikhabhai Patel,
who are all members of the temple.
Pursuant to your warning letter of October 31, 1999 and the
defamatory statements made to temple members concerning the
above individuals on the same date, you are hereby placed on
formal notice to immediately CEASE and DESIST from any
behaviour or communication which seek to harass or infringe
on the religious freedoms and individuals liberties of these
members.
In addition, any repeat of threats of physical violence
against these members, which were in fact made by one Arthur
Cussee, a/k/a Adi-deva, at the temple on September 12, 1999
will be met with the swiftest reaction to the appropriate
authorities.
You DO NOT have the authority to prohibit these law abiding
members from expressing their constitutionally protected
rights of free speech or to prohibit anyone from attending
temple functions, regardless of whether those views deviate
from your own, or are considered in your opinion, to be
"dangerous".
In the spirit of conciliation, this office would be happy to
speak with you regarding these differences. However, please
do not underestimate our intentions to protect the
constitutional rights of our clients. If necessary, we will
seek an immediate restraining order and will follow with a
Federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York for
damages based on your illegal practices.
Please do not make this course of action necessary.
Very truly yours,
Gary E. Hannah E. Hanna |
Suffice it to
say that since this letter was received, we have not had any more
threats from the New York Temple, and to the contrary the board
members have treated our devotees very well.
The moral of the story is that as everyone knows, the simplest way
to deal with bullies is to stand up to them. For 20 years, the GBC
have had it easy, with no united and organised opposition to fight
them. The official formation of the IRM in October 1999, has put
paid to this state of affairs.
We have organisation, men and money ready for the long fight ahead.
As we said before, we will not rest until Srila Prabhupada's
movement is returned back to Srila Prabhupada, brick by brick. We
are not going anywhere. We are here to stay until the REAL and
ORIGINAL Hare Krishna Movement, registered by Srila Prabhupada as
ISKCON in 1966, will rise again like a phoenix from the ashes, with
ONLY Srila Prabhupada at the helm.
The notice has been served. Time is running out for the pretenders
to Srila Prabhupada's throne.
Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter, and please
keep your letters, and e-mail addresses of other devotees who should
be added to our list, flowing in. A hard copy of our main position
paper 'The Final Order' is available on request.
If you would
like to receive any of the back issues of the Newsletter please let
me know.
No 1. Invitation to Srila Prabhupada's Vyasa Puja
No 2. GBC Lose First Round of Court Case
No 3. The Story VNN Refused to Publish
No 4. Poison Theorists Accuse Adri of Complicity
No 5. Iskcon Continues to Promote Child Abusers
No 6. Invitation to Malaysia
No 7. United World Body Formed
No 8. Does Srila Prabhupada Support Poisoning Theory?
No 9. PADA Attacks IRM Position
No 10. PADA Continues to Present False Evidence
No 11. GBC Funded Video says Ritvik Spiritual
No 12. Child Rapist Selected by Gurus to Defend their Legitimacy
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