KULASHEKAR CHAITHANYA DAS Vs. STATE BY SUBRAMANYANAGAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts of the case as stated by the petitioner are as follows: The petitioner herein is said to be a full time volunteer serving as a devotee, in the International Society for Krishna Consensus (ISKCON), Bengaluru from the last fifteen years. He is said to be a bachelor who has taken Brahmacharya Deeksha from ISKCON. The petitioner is also in-charge of Public Relations Department in ISKCON, Bengaluru and as such, he has been working as a bridge between ISKCON and various public and private institutions. He is said to be entrusted with the responsibilities to extend help to all devotees visiting ISKCON, whenever there is a need.

(2.) It transpires that in the year 2010, one Smt. Chowdamma from Bellary came to ISKCON Temple, Bengaluru seeking hostel accommodation for one of her sons, Ramachandra, who was said to be studying in R.V.College of Engineering, Bengaluru. Since, the petitioner was incidentally in charge of the Student Relation Department in the Organisation, Chowdamma was thus referred to the petitioner and she is said to have requested the petitioner to secure hostel accommodation for her son. The petitioner is said to have informed her that there was no hostel accommodation available close to the said college. Thereafter, Chowdamma is said to have disclosed several of her family problems and difficulties she faced. The petitioner is said to have made it clear that he was helpless and could not solve the said problems, but she could approach his Superiors who may help her. However, Chowdamma is said to have insisted on calling the petitioner often on his mobile phone, at which the petitioner is said to have tried to avoid her. It further transpires that as the days passed, Chowdamma kept calling the petitioner on his phone to secure a job for yet another of her sons, Mohan, in ISKCON. Further, she is also said to have mentioned that her family was shifting to Bengaluru and she would try to find accommodation close to the ISKCON Temple.

(3.) Further, Chowdamma and her family had indeed settled near the temple and she had also started to put pressure on the petitioner for a job for herself and for her husband in the temple. Initially, the ISKCON authorities had negated the said request, but later Chowdamma and her husband were given jobs in the vegetable cutting department and in the coconut counter, respectively, a job was also said to have been provided for her son as well. It transpires that the husband of Chowdamma had once suffered a heart attack and it was again the petitioner who had been able to obtain treatment for him at the Sathya Sai Hospital, Whitefield Bangalore at a very nominal cost. It is on account of these favours that Chowdamma is said to have started to treat the petitioner as God himself and she is said to have brought fruits and flowers to him. But, the petitioner is said to have expressed that what she was doing was contrary to the temple policy and the petitioner had warned her not to do such things.