High Court Concerned with the Law, Not
Madhu Pandit's Philosophy
BY: BANGALORE CORRESPONDENT
May 24, 2011 — BANGALORE, INDIA (SUN) — Before getting to the main matter of this text I would like to briefly comment on what Madhu Pandit dasa has written on his website. Starting at paragraph five (5) where he begins with: "The genesis of this dispute between ISKCON Mumbai and ISKCON Bangalore…" First of all this is an oxymoron since the High Court of Karnataka has ruled that "ISKCON Bangalore" doesn't exist as a legal entity; more on that later. The real point I want to make is that from here on, Madhu Pandit's rant gives us the same old worn out slogans, like some bad Communist era newsreel or TV program, "Victory to the proletariat working class that is fighting the Bourgeois Capitalist." This army of platitudes in search of an idea may appeal to and be eaten up by his chosen constituency, as he has consciously portrayed himself as the true follower of Srila Prabhupada and become a Rtvik apostle and saint. But is he even a real Rtvik or, has he also done a fraud here to portray himself as one, just to garner support for his crimes? The online article "How Madhu Pandit Dasa duped the Rtviks in order to steal from ISKCON" explores this issue in detail, so I won't get into it here, as I have already digressed enough.
Madhu Pandit dasa may fervently rehash his philosophical reasons for taking ISKCON's Bangalore temple as his own so that he can "struggle for truth", etc., however in no legal jurisdiction that I know of, and certainly not in India, does having a philosophical disagreement with someone justify committing fraud, perjury, bribery, forgery, thuggery and who knows what other crimes in order to steal the property of the person with whom you have the philosophical disagreement (especially when you are accusing your opponents of all the crimes that you are yourself committing). All criminals have rationalizations for their crimes, but these reasons do not excuse them of the crime. It is that simple.
Madhu Pandit is a capable and competent person. If he had serious differences he could have just left ISKCON like others have done and started his own organization in 1998. (Caru Prabhu in Utah comes to mind. He had differences with the GBC and had several successful projects he had developed taken from him. But did he resort to crime? No. He just went out on his own and started a very successful project in the Utah desert.) With his talents and abilities, by now Madhu Pandit would be very successful. Instead he chose to take what was not his in the name of Rtvikism, when in reality it was just that greed got the better of him. For as the High Court opined about Madhu Pandit: "Richer the endowment, greater will be the temptation to swallow the same."
What Madhu Pandit dasa and his supporters should realize is that the High Court of Karnataka do not care even one fig for all of Madhu Pandit's philosophical rhetoric. All they want to know is if he has broken the law of the land or not?
Below are some excerpts from the High Court of Karnataka's judgment against Madhu Pandit dasa by Their Honors Nagamohan Das and Arali Nagaraj. Following which is a link to the High Court of Karnataka's website where you can down load the whole judgment for yourself. To better understand what the judges are referring to such as previous suits filed by Madhu Pandit dasa and also the documents that he forged and which were examined in the court and referred to by them, go to www.iskcon-bda.org, which has copies of most documents referred to by the High Court.
Excerpts
46. … Though the plaintiff* society mentioned the name of Madhupandit [sic] Das in its list of witnesses filed before the Trial Court, he was not examined. Thus the plaintiff withheld the best evidence with an intention: that if he is examined, his evidence would go against the plaintiff. Non-examination of this important witness Madhupandit Das is fatal to the case of the plaintiff. The Trial Court, without considering these admissions on record committed an illegality in holding that no adverse inference can be drawn against the plaintiff. …
67. … At the same time Madhupandit Das and his associates were not ready to give up their control and authority over the huge assets of the Bangalore branch. Richer the endowment, greater will be the temptation to swallow the same. Under these circumstances, Madhupandit Das and his associates conspired to claim right of ownership not only over the income, but over the idol, the deity of the temple, and the entire assets of the temple. …
70. Further, Madhu Pandit Das, his wife Bhakti lata Devi dasi, his co-brother Chanchalapati Das, his wife's sister Chamari Devi dasi and other close associates cooked up reports specifying the names of these persons as elected office bearers of plaintiff society and filed the same in the office of Registrar of Societies for the first time on 21.08.2001 for the entire period of 12 years from 1989 to 2001. As already stated these reports are cooked up for the purpose of giving life to the defunct plaintiff society.
74. Admittedly, Madhupandit Das and other full time devotees are heading the branch of defendant No. 1** at Bangalore. Therefore, Madhupandit Das and other functionaries in their capacity as President and functionaries of ISKCON Bangalore, as a branch of defendant No. 1 are entitled to continue in accordance with the bye-laws, Rules and Regulations of defendant No. 1. However, it is made clear that their continuance as such shall be subject to the decision taken by ISKCON, Mumbai, in accordance with the bye-laws, Rules and Regulations of defendant No. 1.
To get the whole 81-page judgment as a PDF (2.5 MB) click here for the Sun archive copy, or get a source copy from the Karnataka High Court website.
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*Plaintiff: a person who brings suit in a court (opposed to defendant) Madhu Pandit and his bogus society are the plaintiffs.
** Defendant No. 1 is ISKCON reg 1971 in Mumbai
