Statuses and evidence
A claim's current status is the last entry in its status history. The site will not build if an entry's history does not meet the evidence bar for its status.
Established
Findings by a court or by ISKCON's own bodies, or the person's own admission.
- Convicted
- MeaningA criminal court found the person guilty.
- Evidence requiredA court record or a published judgment.
- Found liable
- MeaningA civil court found the person or organization legally responsible.
- Evidence requiredA court record or a published judgment.
- Admitted
- MeaningThe person has admitted the conduct in their own words.
- Evidence requiredA source that contains the admission itself: a statement, interview, letter or recording.
- ISKCON finding
- MeaningAn ISKCON body, such as the Child Protection Office or the Governing Body Commission, ruled against the person after its own process.
- Evidence requiredThe ruling or resolution, as a document or a cited source.
Legal action
Matters before the police or the courts that have not reached a finding.
- Charged
- MeaningPolice or prosecutors have formally charged the person. A charge is not a finding of guilt.
- Evidence requiredA court record, a police statement, or a news report of the charge.
- Under investigation
- MeaningPolice or another authority have confirmed an investigation. It says nothing about the outcome.
- Evidence requiredA police or official statement, or a news report of one.
- Lawsuit filed
- MeaningA civil claim has been filed in court. What it says remains the claimant's allegation until decided.
- Evidence requiredThe court filing or a court record.
- Settled
- MeaningA civil claim ended in a settlement. Where the settlement records no admission, the entry says so: “without admission of liability”.
- Evidence requiredThe settlement, or a news report of it.
Alleged
Accusations that have been published but not tested.
- Documented allegation
- MeaningAn accusation reported by at least two independent sources, or by a news organization or a published book.
- Evidence requiredTwo or more independent sources, or at least one news report or book.
- Reported allegation
- MeaningAn accusation that has been published at least once.
- Evidence requiredAt least one published source.
Unverified
Claims that circulate without any published source. Shown only in a separate, collapsed section.
- Rumor
- MeaningA claim repeated without any published source. It is not a finding and may be false.
- Evidence requiredNo source. The entry must state where the rumor circulates and since when.
Resolved in their favor
Outcomes in the accused's favor. They stay on the record: removing them would look like concealment.
- Acquitted
- MeaningA criminal court found the person not guilty.
- Evidence requiredThe court record or judgment.
- Dismissed
- MeaningA court or other authority dismissed the charge or claim.
- Evidence requiredThe record showing the dismissal.
- Cleared by ISKCON
- MeaningAn ISKCON body examined the matter and found no case to answer.
- Evidence requiredThe ruling or resolution.
- Retracted
- MeaningThe person who made the accusation has withdrawn it.
- Evidence requiredA source showing the retraction.
When a person or organization has several entries, the header and the gallery card show the most serious current status, in this order: Established, Legal action, Alleged, Unverified. An outcome in the person's favor never counts as the most serious.
Categories
Every entry has at least one category. Each category is either criminal (conduct that is a crime in most countries) or conduct (serious wrongdoing against ISKCON's own standards or against the people in a leader's care). Pages count both: “3 criminal accusations, 2 conduct breaches”.
Criminal
- Child sexual abuse
- Child physical abuse
- Rape / sexual assault
- Domestic violence
- Assault
- Murder / conspiracy to murder
- Threats / intimidation
- Fraud / embezzlement
- Misappropriation of donations or temple funds
- Unlawful sale or transfer of temple property
- Tax offences
- Money laundering
- Drug offences
- Weapons offences
- Forced labor / trafficking
- Obstruction of justice
Conduct
- Sexual misconduct with disciples
- Breaking sannyasa vows
- Spiritual / psychological abuse
- Coercive control
- Exploitation of disciples (labor or money)
- Financial mismanagement
- Cover-up / enabling
- Retaliation against victims or whistleblowers
- Institutional negligence
- Breach of leadership standards (unspecified)
A category describes what is alleged, not what is proven. Always read it together with the status.
Sources
Every statement of fact on a record is tied to a numbered source. Where a source is online we link the original and keep our own copy in the document library, so the record survives if the original is taken down.
We prefer primary records (judgments, court filings, police statements, Child Protection Office rulings, GBC resolutions) over reports about them. Where we publish a document itself, it is stored under its SHA-256 hash; images have their metadata stripped, and redactions are burned into the page so no hidden text survives.
Two sources count as independent only when neither repeats the other. Several articles based on one press release are one source.
Source types
courtCourt recordjudgmentJudgmentcourt-filingCourt filingsettlementSettlementcpo-rulingChild Protection Office rulinggbc-resolutionGBC resolutionpolicePolice statementofficial-statementOfficial statementnewsNews reportbookBooktestimonyTestimonyvideoVideoforumForum postletterLetterotherOther
Rumors
Some claims circulate for years without anyone putting their name to them. Leaving them out helps no one: readers hear them anyway, with no sign of how little stands behind them. So we record the most persistent ones, quarantined.
Rumors appear only in a separate section at the end of a record: collapsed by default, grey, and under the fixed words “Unverified rumors — not confirmed by any source”. Each must state where it circulates and since when. A rumor never counts toward a person's most serious status.
A rumor that gains a published source becomes a reported allegation. A rumor shown to be false is removed, and the removal is logged in Corrections.
Fairness to the people named
Where the accused has responded publicly, the response is shown with the entry. Anyone named on this site can send a reply through the right-of-reply form; replies go to the editors and are published or summarized alongside the record.
Outcomes in a person's favor (acquittals, dismissals, clearances and retractions) stay on the record in plain words, such as “Acquitted, 2004”.
Status is always shown, never implied. We do not use words like “exposed” or “predator”; the tone is that of a court record.
People who were harmed
Nobody is named as a victim unless they have died and their case is public record, or they have publicly identified themselves: as a named plaintiff, in an interview, or in their own writing. A person abused as a child is never named unless they chose, as an adult, to be named publicly.
Everyone else appears only as an anonymous testimony or under “People affected”: initials that already appear in a published source, or a description such as “A gurukula student, 1980s”. A full name is never accepted there.
Saying that someone's harm or death is connected to a person is itself a claim, so that connection carries its own status and evidence bar.
Deaths by suicide are described following safe-messaging guidelines: no method or location, no sensational wording, and no single-cause phrasing. Each such entry links to crisis support.
Translation
English is the source of the record. Every other edition is translated in full from it, including summaries, accusations, case descriptions, testimonies, status names and categories, and a language is published only once its translation is complete. Source titles and the documents themselves are shown as originally published.
Quotations from English sources are translated; the cited source holds the exact original wording. A correction is made to the English record and to every language edition at the same time.
Names are indexed with all their known spellings, in every script, so a search for any of them finds the same record.
How submissions are used
Survivors, witnesses and anyone holding documents can send an account, a new case or evidence through the encrypted form. The text and files are encrypted on your device, and only the editors can read them. See Privacy.
Sending us an account means we may publish it. You choose how: without your name (the default), under your initials, or under your name. Nothing is published beyond the consent you gave.
A new entry drafted from a submission starts at most as a reported allegation; any higher status needs the sources set out above. Where editors hold unpublished accounts about the same matter, the record says so: “and 4 others whose accounts are held by the editors”.
Every submission gets a receipt code. Keeping it is optional: with it you can add material to the same submission later, and you can always send more as a new submission. A submission cannot be withdrawn or changed once sent, so that what is published from it stays on the record.
Corrections
Every material change to a record is dated and logged. If you find an error, tell us; corrections are published in the public log.