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The Hindu Temple -Its design and PurposeMore to come..
In 21st Century Britain ..
after 27 years of living in Normans Bay, Sussex, Sheila Jacklin became the target of a sustained campaign of harrassment by her new neighbours, by the local Police and even by the Crown Prosecution Service for almost 2 years and one would naturally wonder why..
.. for the crime of doing traditional Yoga on the beach in front of her own house .. supposedly.
'This has been a sustained campaign of racial and religiously motivated harassment of my family by our neighbours and Sussex Police. 'This should never have come to court. I told the police it was to do with my Indian heritage and my yogic prayers. It's been a total attack on Hinduism and highly offensive to call my Mudra (hand movements) an 'F-you' gesture.'
The question everyone is asking though is this,
if PAUL LAMB, the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer
had no evidence to present in front of the Judges,
Why did it take the best part of 2 years to realise this?
The whole family is finally free of the fear of an unjust criminal conviction and are determined to ensure that their prolonged suffering at the hands of the Sussex Police and Crown Prosecution Service is never inflicted upon other wholly innocent British citizens, especially those of a peaceful minority religion and race.
As the principle national Hindu religious body, the NCHT(UK) were approached by the Jacklins for pastoral and spiritual support and advice regarding defending the preposterous allegations. The Crown Prosecution Service had secured the services of a "Yoga teacher", also not of Indian origin, to challenge the use of Mudra's as a part of Yoga practice. We provided expert witness testimony as to the purpose of Mudra's and offerred a critique of the CPS's "evidence" highlighting its gross inadequacies. Our General Secretary Pt Satish K Sharma was at the side of the family in Hastings Law Court prepared to present this evidence but on the day, the CPS's expert witness failed to attend, the CPS "chose" not to present any evidence and the case was thrown out after only a few minutes of deliberation by the Justices.
What was truly shocking was that even after having had the case thrown out due to no evidence, the Crown Prosecution Service approached the Bench and requested that Sheila Jacklin be subjected to a restraining order... again the Justices promptly refused. The question remains... what is wrong with the leadership of the Sussex Police and the Crown Prosecution Service? We received the following very kind letter from the Jacklin Family.
Our initial letter to the Crown Prosecution service should have made the position clear to the lawyers but they still pressed forward to a hearing, at which we presented expert witness evidence which we will be publishing at a later date for use by future defendants if necessary. 
Press Coverage:-
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/17967130.mother-free-pray-beach-court-rules/
The text of the Jacklins' letter :-
Nigel and Sheila Jacklin
24th October 2019
To:- The Trustees and members of the NCHT(UK)
We are writing to express our heartfelt gratitude for all the support provided by Pandit Shri Satish K Sharma and the National Council of Hindu Temples UK in relation to Mrs Jacklin’s recent court case. This support, both pastoral and through the provision of expert witness testimony, has helped us through a very difficult time.
We were advised to contact you by Swami Ambikananda of the Traditional Yoga Association after Sheila had been charged with harassment by Sussex Police in April this year. The allegations were that her daily Hindu Yoga Prayers were causing harassment to our weekender neighbour whose main residence is in London. Sheila had already been interviewed on the basis of the same allegations last August; the investigating officer immediately recognised her Yoga practices and no further action was taken. We were, therefore, shocked when the neighbour (who has a senior position in an Arts Council funded charity) made the same complaints again. We were flabbergasted that Sussex Police chose to investigate these allegations despite the fact that our request for mediation with the neighbour had finally been agreed to with mediation being in progress. We wrote to the Chief Constable of Sussex Police, Giles York, informing him that Sheila had the right to practice her religious observances. We also told the Chief Constable that Sussex Police were, in effect, aiding and abetting a hate crime. Despite this Sussex Police pressed charges.
When we contacted the NCHT UK Pt Sharma wrote to the Crown Prosecution Service in the strongest terms. He confirmed that “the activities described by Mrs Jacklin are a part of the devotional practices of Hindu worship and an intrinsic part of Yoga practices;” he affirmed that “our rights to perform them in the open, are protected by Article 9 of European Convention on Human Rights as adopted in the Human Rights Act 1998” and stated that “the allegations are deeply offensive to the Hindu Community.” We were extremely disappointed, therefore, that the CPS chose to continue with the case which went to trial on October 3rd. Pt Sharma attended court in Hastings alongside our family and we were relieved when the CPS offered no evidence (meaning Sheila was free to leave).
This should never have happened to Sheila and we need to make sure it does not happen to anyone else. Thank you so much for all your help,
Yours sincerely,
Sheila and Nigel Jacklin
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