[Buddha-l] Is there any basis for the allegations concerning the "expulsion" of Ani Karma Lhamu?

[Jo]

Did you see the reader comment at the TOI link you supplied? It affirms:

Nepal Buddhist Federation has never said that she is expelled from the
nunnery and that she lost her religion, as has been wrongly quoted. Ani
Karma Lhamu alias Sangita Lama, the nun in question has been brought to
Nepal from Siliguri, India, and is currently admitted in TUTH in Kathmandu.
The members of the NBF personally met her and her relatives in the hospital
where her condition is still very unstable. NBF also met the authorities of
the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharbing, which she left a year ago when she
went to India to pursue further studies. She is not expelled from the
nunnery. Acharya Norbu Sherpa during the press conference only reacted to
the question whether the nun still maintains celibacy. He spoke in reference
to breaking of vows in the vinaya rules about monks and nuns in general and
not specifically referred to the present case which, he said, even was not
expected in Buddha's time. Such philosophical debates are his personal views
and are not the official stand of NBF. NBF in collaboration with our allied
Association Tamang Lama Gedung Sangh and the concerned nunnery is taking
steps to accommodate her back into the nunnery when she recovers and
discharged from the hospital. NBF will do everything in its power to help
restore the dignity of the nun and continue to fight for justice. As you
know that Buddhists in general has been suppressed in Nepal during the 240
years and only last few years, we are finding some space of expression in
the emerging democracy. Yet it is a fact that most of the activities of the
NBF for the preservation and promotion of our religion never get the
required coverage in the media and this is a continuous struggle for us. You
may now realize Government's apathy to our community in Nepal, as you have
rightly said in the following article that the nun finally got admitted into
the Government hospital only after lots of political and social pressure.
Unfortunately, such harsh treatment to monks and nuns do not generally make
news in our country which has approximately 5000 monasteries, living in
difficult conditions from Drachula to Taplejung. On the contrary the
monasteries and nunneries in general in Nepal has been a subject of
systematic negative media campaign for the last few years including such
baseless allegation of possessing weapons and our monks and nuns live in
perpetual fear. Under such circumstance, your regular write ups on the
plight of our nun are a welcome step. I hope you will continue to take up
the plights of monks and nuns in Nepal and help us retain the dignity of the
place of birth of Lord Buddha. We will assure you of our cooperation.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com
[mailto:buddha-l-bounces at mailman.swcp.com] On Behalf Of Curt Steinmetz
Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 10:10 AM
To: Buddhist discussion forum
Subject: [Buddha-l] Is there any basis for the allegations concerning the
"expulsion" of Ani Karma Lhamu?

What appears, at least to me, to be an especially ugly smear campaign has
been making the rounds on teh interwebs for a month now. The gist of the
story is that a Nepali nun (named Ani Karma Lhamu, and also referred to as
Sangita Lama) was (or was going to be) expelled from the Sangha of nuns
because she had been raped. That (in my view intentionally false) version of
events appears to originate from a July 11 article in the Times of India
(TOI) written by Sudeshna Sarkar and titled "Gangraped Nepal nun now faces
expulsion from nunnery" (fair warning: the details of the brutal attack on
this young woman are truly horrifying and
heart-breaking):
http://tinyurl.com/3s94jnn

The Nepal Buddhist Federation (NBF), for its part, has publicly taken the
position that no such expulsion ever took place, and indeed there is (so far
as I can tell) no evidence whatsoever that any such expulsion was ever
considered at all. In fact the NBF have committed themselves to ensuring
that she is returned to the nunnery where she lived and trained for years
prior to her trip to India (where she was raped by five men on a bus). Here
is the NBF statement:
http://www.sherpaworld.com/show.php?at=1&sn=4115

A great deal of self-righteous chest-beating has occurred on blogs and
online discussion forums, all of it, in my opinion, based on false
allegations and misleading insinuations contained in the TOI article.

Does anyone know of any independent sources of information regarding this
case, or in any other way have any light to shed on this very dark story?

Curt Steinmetz

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