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WORLD  Comment on this story Police Corruption And Religious Persecution In India BY KULASEKHARA DAS INDIA, May 24 (VNN) — Puri - Heavenly Temple of God and a Den of Thieves. It has been over eight months since three Vaishnava's (devotees of Lord Vishnu or Krishna), an American - William Benedict (Bhakta das), along with two Italian Men Michele Rombola (Mayapur Chandra) and Esposito Matteo (Mandali Bhadra) were incarcerated in India, accused by an Austrian women, Maria Schmidova of raping her six year old daughter. On March 30th 2001 in Vienna, Austria, Maria - the mother of the young girl - admitted in court that she lied and made the whole thing up, she named the former and current prosecutors of Puri, Orissa, (on the East Coast of India), who instigated her. She has admitted that she barely knew William and that no one from his family or friends had ever threatened her. She was fined 500,000 Austrian Shillings (approx. $32,000 US) for lying and having William Benedict incarcerated. Maria returned with her daughter to Vienna six months ago. She was checked into a Mental Hospital one week ago for observation. The Doctor's diagnosis was -acute psychotic delusions and hallucinations. (She insists that she is Parvati - Shiva's consort). May 10th 2001, marks 264 days that William has been held without any charges being filed, or bail being allowed. The two Italian men have now been held for 316 days, almost a year! The American officials in India have been sympathetic, but unable to have influence over the Indian legal system. The arrests were made under the control of the Deputy Inspector General of the state crime branch - Tayag Rajan, a known Communist, who's initial motivation for including William in Maria's lawsuit was to extract money. William, a wealthy American was arrested two months after the child had been certified Îuntouched' with no evidence of rape by both the District Head Quarters Hospital in Puri, and the Cuttack S.C.B. Medical College Hospital. Embarrassed by refutable evidence, Tayag Rajan holds onto these men trying to figure out a strategy, meanwhile William's health deteriorates and he is hospitalized. After two months the Prosecutors offer to get William out through "A high ranking Government Official" for a sum of 4 lacks of Rupees, $100,000.00 US. He turns this down and is still imprisoned in the Bhubaneshwar Hospital. Eleven days ago he was moved to the Mental Ward at S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack, Orissa. Mr. Tayag Rajan's strategy in this move is extremely suspect, as the Police have twice threatened William's life. Thirteen days ago on April 27th, the Police arrested four other men, (Indian nationals), in Puri for participating in the same bogus gang rape. On May 6th, four days ago - the Puri Police arrested another Vaishnava, Suddha Mohapatra, one of the leaders of the Daityapati community in Puri. (Those who attend Lord Jagannatha from Snana Yatra until the end of Rathayatra). He is a famous photographer of Lord Jagannath and his photos appear in books worldwide. "We arrested Mohapatra, who works for a Bhubaneswar based vernacular daily, for sexually exploiting a foreign lady and her daughter and making a blue film to sell in the international market," a senior official said. This statement comes almost one month after they received the official papers from the Austrian Courts. The Police have now arrested Suddha Mohapatra for selling a video tape in Bangkok of a rape that never happened, and without any evidence. William has been denied bail twelve times in the 264 of his incarceration, and still - no charges have been filed on any of the nine men now in jail. This case is blatant religious persecution and is against all Human Rights standards anywhere in the World. Kulasekhara das, Colin Jury, Eugene, OR, USA. colinjury@yahoo.com Related VNN Stories Comment on this storyContact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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