AUSTRALIA
7 News
By Annette Blackwell
December 2, 2014
A NSW ashram blocked abuse victims from its Facebook page, threatened them with defamation action and until this year never apologised for the sexual exploitation of girls by its founding spiritual leader.
A royal commission is examining how a retreat, now known as the Mangrove Yoga Ashram, handled sex abuse complaints against Swami Akhandananda Saraswati who ran the NSW Central Coast compound from 1974 to 1986.
Children were physically and sexually abused at the ashram where some parents handed guardianship of their children as well as property and income over to Akhandananda and his partner Shishy.
The ashram, nestled in the foothills of Mangrove mountain, is the largest in Australia and a registered charity. About 200 people lived there at its peak.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.