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WORLD February 22, 2000 VNN5533 Related VNN Stories GBC Facing Perjury Charge In Calcutta High Court FROM IRM NEWSLETTER INDIA, Feb 22 (VNN) — 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: "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: "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: 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. Related VNN Stories  Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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