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Hare Krishnas face bankruptcy

Peter Popham

THE Hare Krishna movement in America is broke destroyed by lawsuits for sexual and physical abuse.

The sect that enthralled George Harrison and led him to Hinduism is filing for bankruptcy protection in New York, a move intended to avoid seizure of the personal assets of its leaders. The suit has been filed on behalf of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the official name of the movement.

It follows many legal setbacks, the biggest in June 2000 when the organisation was hit with a $400m suit alleging sexual and emotional abuse of children on a huge scale at the sect's schools.

The sect says the amount of compensation sought is far greater than the value of all the Hare Krishna temples in the US put together. But behind the facade of blissful piety, terrible deeds have taken place, year after year. And it is the children who suffered, as the organisation itself has frankly admitted.

Sexual abuse, physical and mental torture, and systematic terrorisation of children as young as three were routine in many of the sect's boarding schools. ( Independent News Service)

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