Mathura Jail Incident

[Guest guest]

For The Record

 

Subodh made me aware of this matter near the end of it and invited me to

join the delegation to visit the Australian Mataji in the Mathura Jail. Our

party of 5 first visited the SSP of Mathura, then the Head Jailor inside the

jail. Finally we were allowed to speak with the mataji in the presence of

the jailer.

 

I was not aware that the ISKCON Vrindavan management had requested devotees

not to visit her "to teach her a lesson to respect authority", which was

reported to me afterwards, and only heard that there was a devotee in jail

possibly being beaten, deprived of medication, and on the verge of

death/suicide.

 

As I came to understand more, it became clear that something seriously wrong

was going on. All the law enforcement authorities we spoke with indicated

that the deportation process should not take more than 2 days, and 7 at the

most. Everyone seemed genuinely perplexed why this woman has been in jail

for nearly two months for simply overstaying her visa by less than 30 days

(according to her).

 

Honestly, I did not see any marks or bruises, but she did complain of having

them under her garments. She also complained of having lost vision in her

left eye due to mistreatment. The picture that had been created about her

from the interviews we had earlier painted her as a drug-addicted, violent

and irrational animal. What impressed me most was how different the real

person turned out to be upon meeting her.

 

Congratulations certainly go to Subodh for getting involved and using his

political influence as a member of the Congress Party to help her gain

release and deportation the day after we paid our visit, especially

considering that she had received a stiff 5 year conviction for her

infraction (the maximum possible sentence).

 

She admitted to destroying Jail property by throwing a television in

self-defense to ward off a mob of jail inmates who were beating her. She was

also accused of taking banned substances prescribed by her doctor, who

apparently was arrested as a result of her arrest and lab tests of her

prescription medications. She was accused of verbal and physical abuse to

authorities and other inmates, and in all fairness, it did appear that the

authorities showed restraint by simply reporting the incidents and not

pressing further charges against her.

 

The impression I was left with was that the mataji had made some mistakes

she admitted to, and had lost her social and legal bearings that was

compounded by the fact that ISKCON appeared to be leaving her high and dry

to spend the next five years in prison under very austere conditions. She

was feeling trapped, betrayed and was very untrusting of everyone, even our

delegation at first until we were able to give her confidence in our

intentions to help her.

 

There were cultural differences, legal constraints of the authorities, and

unreaslistic expectations on both sides. All-in-all no one really performed

very well on either side, and this can be labelled as an unfortunate

experience that should alert all of us of how bad things can go if we don't

cooperate and support one another in our efforts to serve Srila Prabhupada.

 

Regardless of the mistakes made, the mataji certainly did not deserve the

treatment she reported receiving, but that I was not able to observe or

verify. Honestly, she did seem to be a very principled person and her

testimony was very credible and convincing.

 

Why the local GBC, TP, and senior leaders stationed in Vrindavan and aware

of this incident did not respond to this incident is a clear indicator of

the value placed on the individual. The message ISKCON Vrindavan is sending

devotees worldwide is clear, "If you are in Vrindavan, you are on your own."

Hopefully we can learn of better and more humane ways of teaching devotees

lessons without resorting to brutal incarceration, especially the disciples

of Srila Prabhupada who said "I don't punish my disciples."

 

After going through this I certainly felt priviledged to participate and

felt, as did all the other members of the delegation, a special

reciprocation from Srimati Radharani for taking the risk to help another

devotee in difficulty.