Kripa Kara Das
Legal name Keith Foley
Krpa Kara DasaKrpa-kara dasa
- ISKCON Adelaide, Australia (1980s)
- South Australian leader of the Hare Krishna movement (as described in December 1981)
- 1981
Protected by · 1
Bhakti Vikasa SwamiAlleged to have given a restricted offender access to gurukula children, Salem 2025.
Record summary
1 entry — 1 ISKCON finding.
Last reviewedBio
Kripa Kara Das (Krpa Kara Dasa) is an Australian member of the Hare Krishna movement. According to a 2000 decision of ISKCON’s child-protection body, his legal name is Keith Foley, and in the 1980s he was the temple president of ISKCON’s centre in Adelaide, South Australia.
In December 1981 The Canberra Times described “Mr Keith Foley” as the Hare Krishna movement’s South Australian leader, saying the movement would defy an Adelaide City Council ban on its singing and dancing in Rundle Mall (“The council is putting itself higher than God”). In February 1982 the same paper quoted “community leader Kripakara Das” on the movement’s plans for its own schools (“Our children need a proper God-conscious education”). Court records show that a Keith Foley, described in a 1985 judgment as a member of ISKCON, was prosecuted under the council’s by-law for handing out printed material and playing musical instruments in Rundle Mall in 1982. His challenge to the by-law failed in the High Court of Australia (Foley v Padley, 1984); in February 1985 he pleaded guilty to 23 by-law counts, and the Supreme Court of South Australia heard the appeals on the penalties in June 1985. These records concern street preaching, not the abuse described on this record.
That decision was issued by the Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (APVC), the name under which the Child Protection Office, set up by ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission in 1998, first operated as a corporation in North America.
The sources reviewed do not confirm his year of birth, when he joined ISKCON, how long he led the Adelaide temple, or what he has done since 2000.
Sources (6)
- [1]Official Decision of the Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (ISKCON child protection) on the case of Krpa Kara dasa (Keith Foley), decided 30 October 2000, Oct 30, 2000 (document)
- [2]ISKCON News, Update on ISKCON Child Protection Office in North America Released by NA RGB
- [3]The Canberra Times, In brief: Hare Krishna ban in mall — p.3, Dec 22, 1981
- [4]The Canberra Times, Adelaide City Council backs down to the Hare Krishna zealots — from our South Australian correspondent, p.2, Feb 21, 1982
- [5]Supreme Court of South Australia, Foley v Padley [1985] SALawSocJS 143; (1985) 121 LSJS 480 — Olsson J; appeals on penalties after his February 1985 guilty pleas to by-law offences in Rundle Mall in 1982; scanned judgment; via AustLII, Jun 28, 1985
- [6]High Court of Australia, Foley v Padley [1984] HCA 50; (1984) 154 CLR 349 (Keith Foley v Charles Roy Padley) — via AustLII, Aug 20, 1984
Record
1 entry · most established firstSexual abuse of two girls (Australia, 1980s)
In a signed 1997 statement to ISKCON's child-protection body (APVC), a woman said he sexually abused her from March 1986 to May 1987, when she was 13 to 15 and he was acting temple president in Adelaide. In his own statement to the APVC he admitted the assault, said he had been convicted for it in an Australian court and given a suspended sentence, and admitted fondling a second, younger girl. The APVC's decision of 30 October 2000 barred him from ISKCON for at least four years and placed lifetime restrictions on him.
The decision is hosted here from a scanned copy, with the children’s identities blacked out. A copy was also linked in 2025 by the critic Sanaka Rsi dasa on Dharmasanga. It has not been found on an official ISKCON website. The APVC was the name under which ISKCON’s Child Protection Office first operated in North America (ISKCON News).
Dharmasanga and Light of Dharma say he was convicted of sexually assaulting two children and served prison time. The decision records a conviction involving one girl and a suspended sentence. It does not mention a conviction involving the second girl.
In 2025 Dharmasanga and Light of Dharma reported that in January 2025, at ISKCON Salem in Tamil Nadu, India, he had access to gurukula children and travelled with them on a train journey of about 25 hours to Jagannath Puri. They said this breached his restrictions. No ISKCON or Child Protection Office statement about this has been found. The allegation is recorded in the record of Bhakti Vikasa Swami.
A contemporary’s recollection. In a 2022 letter (name withheld by the editors), a devotee who held a junior leadership post in Australia at the time recalls being told at the Adelaide temple that Kripa Kara, its temple president, had “indecently touched a young devotee girl”; he was given no details. He writes that he has “some memory of there being an attempt to down play the incident at the time”, though he “cannot say with any certainty what gave me that idea”, and that he later became aware that Kripa Kara “had gone to prison for a sexually related crime”. (The APVC decision records a suspended sentence.)
- 2000AdmittedIn a written statement to the APVC he admitted sexually assaulting the first girl. He said he had been convicted of it in an Australian court and given a suspended sentence. He also admitted fondling a second girl. The conviction is known only from his own statement as recorded by the APVC; the court record has not been found (AustLII, NZLII and Trove searched in October 2026; South Australian criminal court records of the period are not online).
- 2000ISKCON findingOfficial decision of the Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (ISKCON child protection).
No connection with ISKCON until at least 30 October 2004. After that, conditional association: restitution, letters of apology, psychological evaluation and therapy. He may not stay overnight on ISKCON property, lead kirtan, give classes or hold any position. He must show the decision to the president or manager of any ISKCON temple or project he visits more than twice a year. He could apply to have these conditions lifted after 30 October 2010. Lifetime restrictions: no ISKCON service involving association with children (under 18). He must stay away from ISKCON events where the first girl or her family are present unless they consent. Any violation bars him from ISKCON property until the APVC reviews his case. He told the APVC that the court had ordered him to pay $10,000 each to the first girl and her mother, and that he had paid.
He admitted the abuse and the conviction in his statement to the APVC. He said he had sent letters of apology to the first girl and her mother and had attended counselling over the years. [1]
Sources (5)
- [1]Official Decision of the Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (ISKCON child protection) on the case of Krpa Kara dasa (Keith Foley), decided 30 October 2000, Oct 30, 2000 (document) original
- [2]ISKCON News, Update on ISKCON Child Protection Office in North America Released by NA RGB original
- [3]Dharmasanga, What is wrong with Bhakti-vikash Swami? (Sanaka Rsi dasa), 2025 original
- [4]Light of Dharma, The Enabler's Playbook: A Case Study of Bhakti Vikasa Swami — dated 18 Jan 2025; the text covers events up to August 2025, Jan 18, 2025 original
- [5]Letter from a former New Gaudadesh resident on the New Gaudadesh fire and the Kripa Kara case, December 2022 (document) original
Photos
1
People affected
2 people affected · 0 died- A girl aged 13 to 15, Adelaide, 1986–1987In a signed 1997 statement she told ISKCON's child-protection body that Kripa Kara Das, then acting temple president, sexually abused her for fourteen months. He admitted the assault and said he had been convicted of it in an Australian court and given a suspended sentence Abused.ConnectionISKCON finding
- A younger girl, AustraliaKripa Kara Das admitted to ISKCON's child-protection body that he sexually fondled her; the body's decision puts her age at the time at about 7 or 8 Abused.ConnectionISKCON finding
Timeline
Each status change in this record, on one axis, with the periods of the cases Kripa Kara Das is involved in.
- 2000
- Admitted2000 Sexual abuse of two girls (Australia, 1980s) In a written statement to the APVC he admitted sexually assaulting the first girl. He said he had been convicted of it in an Australian court and given a suspended sentence. He also admitted fondling a second girl. The conviction is known only from his own statement as recorded by the APVC; the court record has not been found (AustLII, NZLII and Trove searched in October 2026; South Australian criminal court records of the period are not online).
- ISKCON findingOct 30, 2000 Sexual abuse of two girls (Australia, 1980s) Official decision of the Association for the Protection of Vaisnava Children (ISKCON child protection).