CA--Victims praise 6 women suing LA yoga instructor

For immediate release: Monday Feb. 23

Statement by Joelle Casteix of Newport Beach CA, western regional director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (949 322 7434, [email protected])

We applaud the six brave women who are suing Bikram Choudhury and his yoga business for sexual assaults. We find the defenses used by Choudhury’s lawyers to be weak, legalistic and hurtful. And we beg others who may have seen, suspected or suffered crimes by Choudhury to come forward, get help, expose wrongdoing, protect others and start healing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/us/cracks-show-in-bikram-yoga-empire-amid-claims-of-rape-and-assault.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news    

And we ache for the Choudhury followers who can’t seem to understand that a person’s apparent talent and charismatic personality doesn’t preclude his or her criminal behavior. No matter how smart or successful or powerful an individual may be or seem, he or she is still capable of sexual violence.

Like nearly every US Catholic bishop does in child sex cases, Choudhury is trying to evade responsibility by exploiting the statute of limitations. Shame on him. And his lawyers’ attack his accusers’ motives, one of the oldest and most pathetic tricks in the book. Does anyone really believe that all six of these women are “money-grubbers?”

We hope the courage of these six women will inspire others who may have information or suspicions about Choudhury to break their silence.

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy 314-566-9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine 312-399-4747, [email protected]     


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