© 2003 VNN
|
WORLD   Temples Begin Identifying Victims FROM THE INDIAN EXPRESS USA, May 6 (VNN) — by Larry B. Stammer Los Angeles, April 30: The six Hare Krishna temples in California, along with several other Krishna organisations here and in West Virginia, took steps on Tuesday to identify minors who may have been sexually abused or mistreated at boarding schools during the 1970s and 1980s. A lawsuit over the alleged abuse, prompted the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to file for bankruptcy last year to protect its assets and to prevent closing of temples and other facilities across the US. As part of the bankruptcy process, the Krishna temples plan to publish legal notices in major newspapers, magazines and websites urging victims to make claims if they want to be compensated under a proposed bankruptcy reorganisation plan. The move is the latest development in a three-year legal battle over the abuse charges. In charges that echo the sexual abuse scandal in Roman Catholic dioceses across the US, plaintiffs allege they were raped or otherwise physically and emotionally abused while living in Krishna boarding schools. The US boarding schools, known as ashram-based gurukulas, were all closed by the mid-1980s. In the US, schools were located in Los Angeles and Three Rivers, California, Moundsville, West Virginia, and Dallas. A suit was filed in 2000 in Texas against the Los Angeles, Moundsville and Dallas schools. The six California temples were also named as parties in the suit, which seeks millions of dollars in damages on behalf of more than 90 alleged victims. A Los Angeles attorney for the Krishna movement, David Liberman, said on Tuesday he had no idea how many victims may step forward. ''Well over 2,000 to 3,000 children went through Krishna boarding schools during that period,'' he said. Liberman said the lawsuit ''threatens to close places of worship and punish innocent families that had nothing to do with these allegations.'' An article on child abuse within the movement between 1971 and 1986 currently appears on the movement's website. In it, E. Burke Rochford, Jr, professor of sociology at Middlebury College, said US Krishna boarding schools first opened in 1971. Rochford wrote that during these ''formative years'', children were educated in boardings and ''It was here that some children were physically, psychologically and sexually abused.'' Estimates of the number of students abused have ranged from 20 per cent of all students who attended an ashram-gurukula to as many as 75 per cent of the boys enrolled at a boarding school in Vrindavan, India, according to Rochford. Liberman said the Krishna society hopes to settle as many cases under the proposed bankruptcy proceedings, including cases of those who have not yet filed suit. He said the reorganisation plan will be submitted to Federal Bankruptcy Courts in California and West Virginia in June. (LAT-WP) Copyright The Indian Express Related VNN Stories Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
|
