Krishna Payouts Begin

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Krishna Payouts Begin

Los Angeles Times - CA,USA

.... Leaders of the Hare Krishna faith last week began carrying out the terms

of a $9.5-million settlement that closes the books on a long-running child

abuse ...

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-krishna26jun26,1,1306188.story?coll=la-

headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

June 26, 2005 latimes.com : California Single

 

Krishna Payouts Begin

Society starts resolving its $9.5-million child abuse case. Bankruptcy filing,

school closures precede compensation to 535 former students.

 

By Hector Becerra, Times Staff Writer

 

 

Leaders of the Hare Krishna faith last week began carrying out the terms of a

$9.5-million settlement that closes the books on a long-running child abuse

scandal.

 

Under the plan, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness

organization has filed for bankruptcy in Los Angeles while it determines how

to compensate 535 former students who say they were abused in the 1970s and

'80s by adults at boarding schools run by the society.

 

 

 

The settlement covers abuses at Krishna temples and schools across the United

States and India that resulted in a 2001 class-action lawsuit.

 

Some Hare Krishna devotees and gurus, including at least one in Los Angeles,

were subsequently convicted of child abuse, and others were barred from

visiting temples, said Anuttama Dasa, spokesman for the society.

 

The Krishnas also closed all the boarding schools in the United States, where

much of the abuse allegedly occurred. Last week, the organization began paying

off attorneys, accountants and others involved in the case, a first step in

eventually making payments to the alleged victims.

 

"It's heartbreaking to know that many of our children were abused in some of

our schools and communities," Dasa said. "Hopefully, this decision allows us

to reach out to these young adults, these former students, and provide as much

support as we can."

 

Though the scandal is far smaller in scope than the sexual abuse allegations

facing the Roman Catholic Church, it has roiled the Hindu-based society with

100,000 members in North America and brought about much soul-searching.

 

The plaintiffs' attorneys had originally sought $400 million but say the

settlement, though much smaller, is important because the organization

admitted that widespread abuse had occurred.

 

"It's a kind of therapy," said attorney Windle Turley, who represented 95 of

the alleged victims. "This bankruptcy, where the defendant explicitly

apologizes and acknowledges their wrong, and arranged some compensation for

the victims, is a type of validation that will have a strong therapeutic

impact."

 

The Hare Krishna movement was founded in New York City in 1966 by Indian guru

Srila Prabhupada. He preached about nonviolence, vegetarianism and celibacy

under a theology known as "God consciousness."

 

His teachings won popularity during the counterculture movement of the 1960s

and '70s. Movement members are best known for chanting "Hare Krishna," wearing

saffron robes and shaving their heads.

 

Prabhupada said children as young as 5 should be sent to boarding schools so

they could learn to be pure devotees. This also freed parents to sell

devotional books and perform other duties for the society.

 

Schools, known as ashram gurukulas, sprouted across the country, including Los

Angeles.

 

Plaintiffs later charged that much of the abuse occurred in the boarding

schools, and the organization now admits that the arrangement made children

particularly vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse because they were

separated from their parents.

 

"I hardly ever saw my parents, but when I did, I would ask my mother every two

seconds, 'What time do I have to go back?' " said plaintiff Anya Pourchot, now

37. "I was so fearful that if I did not get back to the ashram in time, they

would take away my privileges of seeing my mother."

 

Pourchot, a Santa Monica beautician, said she was able to fend off sexual

advances from gurus, teachers and other devotees in a Dallas boarding school,

but she was frequently beaten. She said she saw other children put inside

gunnysacks and barrels as punishment. Children were locked in closets and told

that rats would attack them if they moved, she said.

 

When she was 16 and staying in a boarding house for women and girls in Los

Angeles, Pourchot said she was engaged against her will to a 32-year-old

devotee. She said he later raped her.

 

"He used to say he was my guru, that I had to do everything he said I had to

do," Pourchot said. "He said I couldn't tell anyone else what was going on

between us."

 

She said she escaped before having to marry him.

 

Pourchot said the incidents still haunt her. "If I hear any of their chants .

I have to run away or I'll start hyperventilating," she said.