In a guest post, Elijah Z Granet comments on the justiciability of the internal disciplinary processes of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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Background

The recent case of BXB v Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Pennsylvania & Anor [2020] EWHC 156 (QB) stemmed from the tragic rape of the claimant—referred to as Mrs B—whilst she was engaging in door-to-door evangelism for the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Mrs B’s rapist, who was eventually convicted in 2014 for both this and other sexual crimes, was a fellow Jehovah’s Witness evangelist, and a “ministerial servant” (an important lay congregational role—Jehovah’s Witnesses have no professional clergy). When Mrs B reported her rape to her local congregation, a “judicial committee” of Jehovah’s Witnesses held a hearing, in which they questioned Mrs B in front of her rapist, and rejected the allegations as unproven, in accordance with the Jehovah’s Witness’s belief that serious allegations must be corroborated by two eyewitnesses. Continue reading →