{"id":8849,"date":"2010-09-08T05:25:50","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T04:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8849"},"modified":"2010-09-08T05:25:50","modified_gmt":"2010-09-08T04:25:50","slug":"the-supreme-court-of-india-initiating-criminal-contempt-charges-against-members-of-madhu-pandit-dasas-gbc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8849","title":{"rendered":"The Supreme Court of India initiating Criminal Contempt charges against members of Madhu Pandit Dasa’s GBC"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLR Correspondent: To see this document click here<\/a> or go to<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.courtnic.nic.in\/courtnicsc.asp<\/p>\n

Then on the left side click on \u201cCase number.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then for case type select \u201cSLP (Criminal).\u201d<\/p>\n

Then put in the case # 5525, and the year should be 2010. Then click submit. You should get a window giving the details of the case. (only works in Internet Explorer)<\/p>\n

You will notice that Madhu Pandits name is not mentioned, only his assistants Stoka Krishna and others are mentioned. The reason for that is explained below.<\/p>\n

To get some background on the case please read:<\/p>\n

Madhu Pandit’s Dirty Trick Blows Up in His Face<\/a><\/p>\n

and <\/p>\n

ISKCON Tussle: HC Warns of CBI<\/a> <\/p>\n

MPD\u2019s side denies involvement:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dnaindia.com\/bangalore\/report_iskcon-case-missive-to-judge-angers-high-court_1273067<\/p>\n

Justice Manjunatha accuses MPD of \u201cBench Hunting\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dnaindia.com\/bangalore\/report_criminal-contempt-case-against-iskcon_1290676<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.deccanherald.com\/content\/42088\/hc-orders-contempt-proceedings-iskcon.html<\/p>\n

http:\/\/expressbuzz.com\/Cities\/Bangalore\/contempt-case-against-iskcon-soon\/97857.html<\/p>\n

Contempt charges against MPD dropped, this explains why MPD name is not mentioned in the criminal contempt case.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.deccanchronicle.com\/bengaluru\/high-court-judges-differ-iskcon-contempt-669<\/p>\n

The following text recently appeared in my in-box.<\/p>\n

Dear Maharajas & Prabhus<\/p>\n

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n

Today ( 27\/08\/2010) the Supreme Court issued notices to Chanchalapati Das,<\/p>\n

Stoka Krsna das, Chitranga Chaitanya Das, Rajiv Lochan Das and 4 other<\/p>\n

members of the alleged Governing Body of the ISKCON Society reg. by<\/p>\n

Shankhbhrit in 1978, in respect of initiating Criminal Contempt against<\/p>\n

them.<\/p>\n

The Brief background is as follows<\/p>\n

1. Sometime in July 2009 MPD, Jai Chaitanya Das, Chancalapti Das and other<\/p>\n

members of the alleged Governing Body of Shankhbhrit’s ISKCON sent a<\/p>\n

photograph and a letter to Justice K. L. Manjunath. The photograph showed<\/p>\n

Justice Manjunath receiving a gift from MPD in 2003 in the premises of the<\/p>\n

Bangalore temple of ISKCON.<\/p>\n

2. The accompanying letter stated that as Justice Manjunath has received<\/p>\n

valuable gifts from MPD he is bias towards ISKCON reg. by Shankhabhrit and<\/p>\n

therefore it is not proper for him to hear the RFA 421\/2009. That time<\/p>\n

Justice Manjunath was hearing RFA 421\/2009 filed by ISKCON Mumbai against ISKCON Bangalore. The senders address on the letter showed that it was sent from Sheshadripuram Branch of ISKCON Reg. in Mumbai by Srila Prabhupada in 1971.<\/p>\n

3. On 10th July 2009 Justice Manjunath questioned both the sides (ISKCON reg. in Mumbai and ISKCON of Shankhabhrit) about this letter & photograph. Both the sides denied having sent photograph & letter. But in the second week of July 2010 Jai Chaitanya filed an affidavit of Behalf of Shankbhrit’s ISKCON stating that Justice Manjunath is prejudiced against it and therefore he should not hear the RFA.<\/p>\n

4. Advocates of Shankhbhrita’s ISKCON (Maruth Prasad & Ramesh Babu) also<\/p>\n

approached two senior advocates ( Srinivasan and Shekhar Shetty) under whom Justice Manjuanth practiced as advocate before he was elevated to the post of the High Court Judge, requesting them to appear on behalf of<\/p>\n

Shankhabhrit’s ISKCON so that Justice Manjunath will recuse himself from<\/p>\n

hearing RFA. It was\/is well known fact that if these two lawyers appear then<\/p>\n

Justice Manjunath would release the matter.<\/p>\n

5. Then in September 2009 Jai Chaitanya on behalf of Shankhbhrit’s ISKCON<\/p>\n

filed an application praying that Justice Manjunath recuses himself from<\/p>\n

hearing the RFA.<\/p>\n

6. Justice Manjunath dismissed the IA and initiated criminal contempt<\/p>\n

against MPD, Jai Chaitanya (who had signed affidavits on behalf of<\/p>\n

Shankhabhrit’s ISKCON) and 4 advocates who appeared on behalf of<\/p>\n

Shankhbhrit’s ISKCON. Justice Manjunath did not initiate Criminal Contempt<\/p>\n

against the other members of the Governing Body of Shankhbhrit’s ISKCON.<\/p>\n

7. ISKCON reg. in Mumbai filed two petitions of Criminal contempt against<\/p>\n

other members of the Governing Body of Shankhabhrit’s ISKCON. But Justice<\/p>\n

Sridhar Rao of Karnataka High Court dismissed those two petitions.<\/p>\n

8. Against the order of Justice Sridhar Rao, ISKCON reg. in Mumbai filed two<\/p>\n

SLPs praying that Criminal contempt be initiated against Chacnhapati Das,<\/p>\n

Stoka Krsna Das and others.<\/p>\n

9. Today ( 27\/08\/2010) in those two SLPs the Supreme Court issued notices to Chanchalapati Das, Stoka Krsna das and other 6 members of the Governing Body of the ISKCON Bangalore in respect of initiating Criminal Contempt against them.<\/p>\n

Following are the details<\/p>\n

SLP (Criminal) No. 5525\/2010 & 5526 \/2010<\/p>\n

Court Hall no. 13 presided over by Justice Panchal and Justice Gyan Sudha<\/p>\n

Mishra.<\/p>\n

Hare Krsna.<\/p>\n

Your servant,<\/p>\n

Dayaram dasa<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

Legal Glossary:<\/p>\n

RFA: Regular First Appeal<\/p>\n

SLP: Special Leave Petition<\/p>\n

IA: Interlocutory Application<\/p>\n

Correspondent\u2019s commentary:<\/p>\n

What we have been able to gather from various sources is that after winning in the lower court last April of 2009 Madhu Pandit Dasa thought he could breath easy for a while because normally it would take ISKCON (reg. 1971 Mumbai) about 5-10 years to be able to get an appeal heard against him. My sources tell me that MPD has survived this long by two tactics\u2014bribery\u2014which is endemic in India, and delaying tactics like this. He hoped to delay everything by 5-10 years till it reached High Court and then another 10+ years to get to the Supreme Court. \u201cJustice delayed is justice denied.\u201d But to his chagrin instead of a 5-10 year wait the matter was sent to the High Court of Karnataka in a record 9 weeks! No one, not even ISKCON (reg. Mumbai, 1971), could believe this. The victorious mood in MPD\u2019s camp turned sour on the prospect of another fight on the heels of the last one with the prospect of defeat ahead.<\/p>\n

What made matters worse is that the judges of the High Courts are not as easy to manage as the lower court judges, though bribery is still possible, they are generally of a higher caliber. So the story goes that last thing that MPD wanted was a judge who was both honest and intelligent, but that is what the Chief Justice of Karnataka did by putting Justice Manjunath on the bench to hear the case.<\/p>\n

Now MPD is really in a jam. How to get rid of this judge who is both sharp and not corrupt? Well as can be seen from references above, MPD tried to implicate Justice Manjunath in a scandal to force him to recuse himself. But that blew up in MPD\u2019s face because instead of slinking away the judge held a press conference and told everything and wanted to have an investigation done. MPD denied having anything to do with it. Instead MPD had his servants file a petition to get the judge to recuse himself. He just wanted to get rid of this judge. However, trying to get a judge off a case without any real cause is a crime in India. It is called \u201cbench hunting\u201d and \u201cforum shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

The High court of Karnataka on their own initiative filed criminal contempt charges against MPD, his servants (Jai Caitanya, Chancalapati, etc) and his lawyers for scandalizing the courts. MPD was able to have charges against him quashed but left his minions to hang out on the line (does this sound familiar\u2014save your own a$$ while others who got in trouble because of you get theirs kicked). The case was left in limbo until the Supreme Court of India took up the case and is initiating criminal contempt charges against MPD\u2019s lieutenants while he is off the hook.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court may decide to hear the case themselves or send it back down to the High Court of Karnataka. I\u2019m told that considering that it is the Supreme Court of India that is initiating this criminal contempt case it seems almost certain what the final verdict will be (but in India anything is possible). If they were fond guilty then MPD\u2019s men would spend a minimum of six (6) months each in prison. MPD would then have to recruit a new GBC to replace those in jail.<\/p>\n

The word we are hearing from Hare Krsna Hill (HKH) is that in the face of all this bad news (prophesied by the lightening strike on the Gopuram earlier this year?) externally MPD is putting on a brave face in the public. And declaring that he will fight to the end for justice and the struggle for truth, etc and trying to inspire his faithful followers to keep working and collecting for him because Krsna is with him and victory is certain. But internally the word circulating on HKH is that MDP knows he cannot win so he is preparing for the inevitable and putting an exit strategy in place.<\/p>\n

When I asked what was the proof for this I was told that residents on HKH could clearly see the signs that MPD was preparing for defeat by creating a new organization called \u201cThe Hare Krishna Movement\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/harekrishna-movement.org\/<\/p>\n

based in Vrndavana, far from Karnataka. And that he was switching all emails to this new domain. That Chanchalapati dasa, the VP of Bangalore temple and MPD\u2019s brother-in-law was seldom in Bangalore but had moved to the new head quarters in Vrndavana to prepare for the future exit. And, that while money was being collected for building flats and for the big Krsna theme park that there was no construction going on, just collecting of funds–but where is it going and for whose benefit? There is no accountability and funds just disappear and are being funneled to this new entity.<\/p>\n

We were also told that MPD leveraged ISKCON\u2019s good name in India and borrowed enormous amounts of money from banks and used it to purchase lands worth about INR 1400 crores (US$300 million) all over India. MPD is supposedly the 2nd largest landowner in Vraja mandala. Hmm this may be why he is shifting his operations to Vrndavana.<\/p>\n

Anyway things are getting exciting; the High Court of Karnataka is supposed to finishing hearing the appeal starting on September 13, 2010. It should take less than 10 working days to hear the case then approximately 1 month to get a judgment. So sometime in October we should hear a decision from the High courts. Then it will go to the Supreme Court of India. In the mean time the Supreme Court of India will initiate criminal contempt proceedings against MPD\u2019s lieutenants. Not sure when that will begin or how long it will take to complete or even who will be hearing the case. But it wont be long before we find out those details. When we find out we will let you know. One thing that seems certain is that MPD\u2019s attempt to scandalize the High court last year has poisoned the whole judiciary of India against him. Bad move on his part. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLR Correspondent: The High court of Karnataka on their own initiative filed criminal contempt charges against MPD, his servants (Jai Caitanya, Chancalapati, etc) and his lawyers for scandalizing the courts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}