Parveen Sharma, president of the Hindu Sabha temple in Brampton, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of two counts of sexual assault
The head priest at one of Ontario’s largest Hindu temples offered to pay off a young woman in his congregation if she dropped rape charges against the temple’s president, a court ruling in the unusual case suggests.
Before the trial, the temple’s top priest met with the woman, suggesting that the temple or Sharma himself could offer her “compensation” if she withdrew the allegations, the victim alleged at trial. One might “reasonably suspect” that Sharma had something to do with the priest’s offer, but there was no evidence to that effect so the incident could not be used against the accused, the judge said.
Steven Skurka, Parveen Sharma’s lawyer, said his client will be appealing after mounting a “vigorous” defence to the sexual assault charges, and was released on bail Friday pending the appeal.According to the ruling — which was issued in February but only came to light this week — the victim in the case rented a basement apartment from Sharma in August 2015, having met him at the Hindu Sabha temple, where he was president. He, his wife and their 26-year-old son lived upstairs.
The victim testified that some friends who also attended the Hindu Sabha temple told her they had been approached by others at the institution who asked if she would take money to drop the charges. At a temple with a history of dispute among its leaders, others asked if she would accept money to proceed with the case, the decision said.
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