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	Local Hindu Leader Loses Appeal By Eric Dexheimer Austin American-Statesman June 24, 2009 http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/investigative/entries/2009/06/24/hindu_leader_loses_appeal.html Prakashanand Saraswati, the spiritual leader of the Barsana Dham Hindu temple, is still barred from the grounds of the ashram he founded just south of Austin, an appeals court ruled today. The decision from the 3rd Court of Appeals upholds an earlier ruling by a state district court judge in Hays County last November. Prakashanand, who in April 2008 was charged with groping two underage girls on the ashram in the 1990s, has not been permitted back on Barsana Dham’s grounds since last May, soon after his arrest at a Washington D.C. airport. In his appeal, Prakashanand argued that by denying him physical access to Barsana Dham, where he has an office and apartment and hundreds of followers, the state was infringing on his First Amendment rights to practice his religion. The Hays County district attorney responded that the guru already had agreed to the restriction when his bond conditions were first set. The ruling is the latest in a series of back-and-forths between the Hays County district attorney and Prakashanand over what freedoms the guru would be permitted pending his trial on the sex charges. Soon after his arrest, the guru — who is known as Shree Swamiji by his followers — was released on $1 million bond and ordered to give up his passport. He also was told to stay at least 200 yards away from Barsana Dham, which sits on 200 acres between Austin and Driftwood. In May, the guru asked that his passport be returned and he be allowed to travel to India, where he keeps a second home. The district attorney balked, but in a dramatic show of faith, one of Prakashanand’s followers, an infomercial executive named Peter Spiegel pledged $10 million of his own money to guarantee his spiritual leader’s return to the Hays County courthouse if he were allowed to travel. Again, as part of the deal, the guru agreed not to enter the ashram. Last August, however, he asked that the conditions of his release be modified once more, to permit him to participate in religious activities at Barsana Dham. Supporters claimed no children lived at the ashram, so that Prakashanand presented no danger to minors, but the motion was quickly denied. In its decision upholding the denial, the appeals court pointed out that Prakashanand knew what he was doing when he made the deal to get his passport back. “There is no allegation that [the guru] did not understand the agreed conditions of his bond or that [his] acceptance of those conditions was involuntary,” the court wrote. An attorney for the ashram criticized the decision in a written statement: “With today’s ruling, our client continues to be unfairly banished from his spiritual home and temple. In our opinion, the Appeals Court ruling has no basis in law.” Hays County District Attorney Sherri Tibbe did not respond to a request for comment. In addition to being charged with 20 counts of indecency with a child, Prakashanand has been accused of making unwanted advances to adult women. No charges have been filed out of those incidents. You can read our previous coverage of the guru and Barsana Dham on statesman.com and clicking on Special Reports under “News.” The next hearing in Prakashanand’s case is set for September 2, with a trail scheduled to begin November 2.
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