ISKCON Child Protection Office

The office was set up on the recommendation of the Task Force on Child Abuse in ISKCON, which the GBC created in 1997 after former gurukula pupils described the abuse they had suffered. It was incorporated in March 1998 as the Association for the Protection of Vaishnava Children. In 2016 the office moved from South Africa to the United Kingdom under Kamlesh Krishna Dasa, who served as director until February 2025.

The 2025 restructuring. In March 2024 the GBC reappointed Kamlesh Krishna Dasa as director until 1 March 2025 and decided to set up an interim oversight committee. On 3 January 2025 it adopted an “Enhanced Approach to Child Protection”, which, according to the office’s successor, “eliminated the International Office”, gave more responsibility to regional offices, brought in external investigators, and created the Child Protection Oversight Committee. From 1 March 2025 ISKCON’s Justice Minister, Campakalata Devi Dasi, who had directed the office from 2009 to 2016, served as interim director.

The 2026 censure. On 9 February 2026 the GBC formally censured Kamalesh Krishna dasa, and two officers, Lilasuka devi dasi and Daksina devi dasi, because the office’s case files and databases had not been handed over as a GBC resolution of 21 February 2025 required. The GBC wrote that he had at first said he did not have the files and, in December 2025, that UK data-protection law prevented their transfer; a London law firm advised the GBC’s General Counsel that the files belong to ISKCON. The censure says the conduct “raises serious concerns regarding suitability for future engagement in any office or position within ISKCON involving leadership, governance authority, oversight functions, institutional records, or child protection responsibilities”. The GBC ordered the files handed over and authorised legal action to recover them. In March 2026 it set up Special Interim Review Panels for pending cases, saying that “withheld files, incomplete adjudications and unaddressed appeals cause ongoing distress for victims, accused devotees, families, and communities”.