Shimla : Tibetan spiritual leader the 17 th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje on Tuesday did not appear personally in a court in Una town of Himachal Pradesh .
But his attorney has appeared on his behalf seeking exemption of the 26 year old spiritual guru in connection with a seizure of a huge amount of foreign currency in his monastery in Dharamsala a year ago.
“We have applied for the exemption of his appearance in court as the Karmapa is in Bodh Gaya presiding over an import religious function(puja),” Narender Pal Singh his attorney told the Hill Post by phone .
Distancing himself from the case Singh said the Karmapa said the chargesheet is mainly against the people who are involved in selling land to the Karmae Garchen Trust for cheating and forgery .
“The Karmapa has not even been served the court summons so far,” Singh claimed .
“Even though the Karmapa heads the trust he has never attended even a single meeting which involves building a permanent structure in Dharamsala ,” he said .
“Nor has he played any administrative, financial or management role . These duties are held by his administrative office , ” he said .
“The Karmapa has expressed his feelings of hurt , he has also said that he has great faith in the Indian judicial system and has the highest respect for the democratic values of this country,” Singh said .
Singh also added that the management trustee applied for bail in court Tuesday .
A charge sheet was filed by the state police against him in December last year .The chief judicial magistrate in the town of Una had asked the Karmapa and nine others(including his aides) to appear personally in court on March 6 .
The Karmapa has been charged under penal provisions related to conspiracy .
A year ago the Himachal Pradesh police recovered Indian and foreign currencies including 120,197 Chinese yuan .
The Karmapa is the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu school, one of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism. He fled Tibet in 2000 and has been living in Dharamsala since then under the wing of the Dalai Lama .
In a 20 year career published widely. He has worked for the BBC, AFP, The Statesman, IANS and the Business Standard . Known for his hard hitting writing and occasional off-beat stories. He lives in Shimla.
i think he is chinese spy
dorjee la … how can you say that he is a spy ??? yeah its right that we are experiencing right to speak or speech under great fundamental right of India however you got to justify the comment that you gave … only saying he is a Chinese spy cant make any sense,….
i don’t have full faith in him becoz i can’t digest that he manage to flee tibet under so many chinese security. it seems very fishy to me. but can’t say 100 percent he is a spy but no either.
Please note that what we seen and what we have heard in the news paper is always different comparing on the ground level. those who cross physically on those himalayan mountain will know how difficult it is. rest its just the sympathy and moral support.
forget about His holiness the karmapa. even the common people who escape from Tibet were closely watch in Nepal and in India. and do you think Karmapa will tell you how he have escaped to India.
“The Karmapa has expressed his feelings of hurt , he has also said that he has great faith in the Indian judicial system and has the highest respect for the democratic values of this country,” Singh said ???? !!!! If he has “faith”in Indian Judiciary he should appear in person as has been asked by the court…It only makes the matter more fishy … he should lead by example !!!
The Karmapa was first enthroned at Tsurphu Monastery outside Lhasa in late August 1992. In the morning he received a kata from the governor of the TAR, which constituted Beijing’s official recognition. In the afternoon, he was enthroned by Tai Situ Rimpoche.
The deal for official recognition provided that he could travel freely but would agree to keep his domicile at Tsurphu. Beijing further saw in this head of the second largest school of Tibetan Buddhism as a counterweight to the influence of the Dalai Lama; the Karmapa saw it as an opportunity to oust the preeminent Gelugpa school, headed by the Dalai, from leadership of Tibetan Buddhism. In actual fact but somewhat broadly, the Dalai is only the head of the Gelugpa and the Karmapa, head of only the Kagyupa. I say “somewhat broadly” because there are subschools of both the Gelugpa and Kagyupa who do not acknowledge the authority of these two heads.
The Karmapa fled because, with Western help, the Dalai pulled a rabbit of his hat by holding forth an alternate Karmapa and setting in motion the wheels of his formal recognition in the West. Whichever was recognized would become heir to the estate left behind by his predecessor. At the time of his death, the last Karmapa held title to USD 4 million of real estate in the USA alone. Anyhow, the original Karmapa headed for the West to claim the loot where the media promptly rendered him politically useless to Beijing.
The Chinese currency was more likely intended for use in China: if Beijing were subsidizing the Karmapa, they would have been smart enough to give him US dollars.
At all events, if you head a trust, company or other corporate body, you are liable for willful mismanagement, tax evasion and the like: it is your responsibility to know what’s happening in your company. Karmapa or not, if there’s fraud, tax evasion and currency import violations, there is theoretically no reason to place him above the law.