Abuse Inquiry into Yoga Retreat Opens

Sky News
December 1, 2014

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/local/sydney/2014/12/02/abuse-inquiry-into-yoga-retreat-opens.html

Child sex abuse allegations against the former spiritual leader of one of Australia's oldest and largest yoga retreats will be examined at a hearing on Tuesday.

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse will inquire into the response of the Satyananda Yoga Ashram at Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast to allegations of abuse against its founding director in the 1970s and 80s.

The retreat is now known as the Mangrove Yoga Ashram.

Akhandananda Saraswati was charged, convicted and jailed in the late 1980s for indecently assaulting four girls between the ages of 14 and 16.

The swami spent 14 months in prison but the convictions were overturned on appeal by the High Court in 1991. He was released from jail and died in 1997.

The commission at its 21st public hearing will examine the ashram's child abuse reporting procedures and child safety policies from 1974 to 2014.

The hearing is expected to run for two weeks.