New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has dismissed
a petition challenging the Tibetan origin of the 17th Karmapa,
head of Kagyu sect of Buddhism and alleging that he has been
sent by China to "annex" Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Justice Manmohan Singh has dismissed the petition filed
by Shree Narayan Singh, a Buddhist, and said, "I am of the
considered opinion that this court has no jurisdiction to
intervene in the present matter as the same is a matter of
policy as it is not against any statute or Constitution".
Filing the petition through counsel Surat Singh, the
petitioner alleged that Urgyen Trinlay Dorje, the 17th
Karmapa, is not of Tibetan origin and "he allegedly escaped to
India from China and claimed to be the 17th Karmapa of the
Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism".
The Court also rejected Singh`s argument that the Karmapa
is in India to collect the Black Vajra Crown and other
religious objects from the Rumtak Monastery to carry them back
to the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China.
The court rejected the petitioner`s claim that he has the
proof that "Karmapa has been intentionally placed by the
People`s Republic of China in keeping with China`s larger
scheme of secession of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh and
eventually, annexation of the entire Himalayas region".
Dorje was officially recognised as 17th Karmapa, head of
the sect, by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in 1992
and in 2001, the Government of India had granted refugee
status to him. He is presently based in Dharamshala in
Himachal Pradesh.
Bureau Report
