Legal Campaign Round 2 (Saraswati & Damodara's Defense Fund)

Hare Krishna

The Vedic Inquirer was established in 2020 to aid those campaigning for improved child protection in the Krishna Consciousness Movement. It performs a valuable community service in this regard - sometimes bringing to public attention the crimes committed by abusers, sometimes providing information about how to recognise red flags, recover from or respond to abuse, etc.

Now its very existence is being threatened.

In late 2023, Lokanath Swami sought to sue two of Vedic Inquirer's most active contributors and admins (Saraswati and Damodara) for defamation claiming that the information they (and others) shared about him were fabrications. In April 2024, his legal team withdrew the case upon a judge's advice since there were some technical issues with it. This left his legal team with an option to resubmit their case - which they have now done.

This time, Lokanath's lawyers are not only after a public apology, retraction, gag order, financial damages, etc but wish to take down the Vedic Inquirer page.

Naturally, Saraswati and Damodara wish to defend themselves against these charges. Due to the kindness of the community - who rallied around financially last time - and some kindly disposed lawyers who were prepared to work at discounted rates, they were able to afford a highly competent legal team to represent them.

We are again asking for your kind support in helping Damodara and Saraswati to fight this case which has been brought against them. It's vital that child protection advocates are not bulldozed into silence by those who wish to keep their gross transgressions a secret.