Says no merit in the Suo Moto Contempt charges initiated by Hon. Justice Manjunath against ISKCON Bangalore and its lawyers
Bengaluru: April 16, 2015: The Honorable High Court of Karnataka today found no merit in the contempt of court petition filed against Shri Jai Chaitanya Dasa, Secretary of ISKCON Bangalore. The court further said that there is no merit in the contempt of court charges instituted by earlier in 2009 by a suo moto order of Hon. Justice KL Manjunath. The High Court further observed that the Secretary of ISKCON Bangalore in his recusal application had not attacked any Judges or the judiciary system; he has in no way attempted to jeopardize the faith in the judiciary by scandalizing the court. Hence there is no contempt as alleged previously by the order passed, dated 10th July 2009.
History of the case: The contempt proceedings were part of a series of twists and turns which took place after the hearing related to litigation between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai started in the High Court in the year 2009 when ISKCON Mumbai went on appeal to the High Court after losing the case in the Trial Court.
The original dispute stemmed from a philosophical difference between ISKCON Bangalore and ISKCON Mumbai in relation to succession of the seat of Acharya of ISKCON, founded by His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. In 1999, the followers of ISKCON Mumbai and their self-made acharyas tried to physically storm the temple on Hare Krishna Hill, which forced devotees of ISKCON Bangalore to file a suit seeking a permanent injunction of non- interference in its affairs against ISKCON Mumbai and its self-made gurus. The City Civil Court gave a permanent injunction that ISKCON Mumbai should not interfere with the affairs of ISKCON Bangalore. This verdict was passed on April 17th 2009, after the City Civil Court conducted a day-to-day trial for over three months with over seven hundred documents filed by both sides.
ISKCON Mumbai had appealed against this permanent injunction in the Honorable High Court of Karnataka. The appeal came before a divisional bench headed by Hon Justice KL Manjunath.
During the course of the hearing, Justice Manjunath received a packet containing photographs and letter which alleged that he had visited the ISKCON Bangalore temple and received gifts from the temple and that he should not hear the case. The letter was sent by courier by Jayapataka Sisya Samuha, with its address at ISKCON Jagannath Mandir, Sripuram which incidentally happens to be a branch of ISKCON Mumbai. Jayapataka Sisya Samuha is an informal unregistered association of the disciples of Jayapataka Swami, one of the self-made gurus and life time Vice Chairman of ISKCON Mumbai and defendant No. 4 in the original suit filed by ISKCON Bangalore against ISKCON Mumbai.
Hon. Justice Manjunath KL stated that when the pictures were taken by ISKCON Bangalore and it was for them to prove how it could be sent in the name of the opposite party. The Court then further requested both the plaintiffs to file an affidavit as to what their stand was as regards the sending of the packet. In its affidavit ISKCON Bangalore vehemently denied having sent the packet under the name of JSS. And explained that taking the photographs of dignitaries visiting the temple and receiving temple honours was a regular practice in the temple. But it also explained that the mischief could have been played by ISKCON Mumbai itself or any other third party as taking photos in the temple in any other area other than the sanctum sanctorum is not forbidden. ISKCON Bangalore further clarified that the photographs of dignitaries so taken are kept in an album or hung on notice boards which are easily accessible for visitors to the temple.
So to make a finding that the packet was actually sent by ISKCON Bangalore could not be established.
At this juncture of the case Sri Jai Chaitanya dasa the Secretary of ISKCON Bangalore applied to the divisional bench that Hon. Justice Manjunath should recuse from the case citing likelihood of apprehension of bias on the part of the judge.
On receiving the application Hon. Justice Manjunath recused from the said case and requested the court to file suo moto contempt proceedings against two office bearers of ISKCON Bangalore and four lawyers. The contempt proceedings so initiated were first heard before the divisional bench of Hon. Justice Sridhara Rao and Hon. Justice Subhash Adi. The said divisional bench heard arguments from both the prosecution and consul for ISKCON Bangalore and advocates. The divisional bench after considerable diligence gave a split verdict. Hon.
Justice Shreedhar Rao in his verdict acquitted all the accused from contempt, whereas Hon.
Justice Subhash Adi said that the contempt proceedings should continue against Shri Jai Chaitanya Dasa, the Secretary of the society, and three more lawyers. Justice Adi sought to drop the proceedings against Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa and Shri VH Ron, the senior advocate against whom the contempt was also initiated. Due to the split verdict, the case was referred to a single bench of the Honorable High Court, Hon. Justice Manjula Chellur. The single bench went on to further drop another advocate Shri KV Chalapathy from the contempt proceedings, but held that the contempt proceedings should continue against the Secretary of the society and two more advocates. Post this, charges were framed against the advocates and Secretary of the society and the trial was conducted by the divisional bench of the Honorable High Court consisting of Hon. Justice N Kumar and Hon. Justice Ratnakala. The divisional bench gave its verdict today and said that there are no merits in the charges initiated by the High Court, thus bringing a closure to a long drawn case.
Shri Madhu Pandit Dasa, President of ISKCON Bangalore said, “It indeed gives us great pleasure that the court saw that the various applications made by us before the High Court were legitimate and that we had not made any attempt to subvert the justice system. We have full faith in the Judiciary and this verdict has increased that faith. We reiterate that we shall work for the betterment of the society. We are confident of our victory in fighting against the corrupt self- made gurus of ISKCON Mumbai.”