Indian-origin ‘Hare Krishna’ devout pleads guilty to child sex attacks

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Melbourne, June 28: A devout Hindu in Australia, who is accused of assaulting three girls whom he had met through religious groups, has pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault on child under 16 and one count of possessing child pornography.

The Victorian County Court heard on Tuesday that Hare Krishna Sivakumar Chidambaram had inappropriately touched the girls aged five, seven and 10, whom he had met through Christian and Hindu religious groups, the Herald Sun reports.

Reports suggest that he had assaulted two sisters in October last year while at lunch with their father at a pastor’s home in western Melbourne, and a third girl on a bus while her mother waited to meet them at the stoppage in the same city.

His lawyer David Drake told the court that 40-year-old Chidambaram is a devout Hindu and someone who is “more like a child, like a small frightened bird”.

“He spends some three hours a day in prayer which … involves repeating the mantra ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Hare. He says that thousands of times per day and it’s from that he derives inner peace,” Drake said.

Chidambaram, a computer programmer from southern India, reportedly came to Australia in 1995 for work.

Crown prosecutor Helen Fatouros said 54 pieces of child pornography were found on Chidambaram’s computer, showing there could be “a clear sexual interest in children” and a risk of re-offending. (ANI)