By Tenzin Nyidon and Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Mar 7: Reports have emerged of a shocking incident where a 12-year-old in a Tibetan Settlement in South India’s Karnataka state, was sexually assaulted by a local Tibetan man. The alleged perpetrator has been identified as Passang Tsering.
Speaking to Phayul, the nodal authority of Central Tibetan Administration, Settlement Officer of the area on Thursday morning said that the perpetrator has been apprehended by the local Indian police. He stated that the concerned authorities are in the process of taking legal action against the alleged perpetrator, although initially, there were efforts to settle the matter internally.
Concerted efforts from the local grassroots Tibetan network, the Tibetan settlement office and the Women Empowerment Desk (WED) of the Central Tibetan Administration, were made to advise the concerned authorities to pursue the matter legally and per the laws of the land, according to reliable sources.
Tsering Kyi, the Program Officer of WED disclosed to Phayul on Wednesday that the survivor herself did not report the incident. The WED was informed about the incident by ‘Barefoot Counsellors’, part of a larger grassroots network associated with the WED. These counsellors notified the settlement office of the incident and asserted the need to pursue the case legally. Cases of sexual offences in India are tried as per the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenders).
“As per the regulations established by the CTA, the direct involvement in such a criminal case is restricted. Given the sensitive nature of the case, particularly involving a juvenile, the Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Committee of the settlement advised the concerned authority to adhere to legal procedures. Consequently, the case is being pursued through lawful channels,” Kyi told Phayul
“The full extent of the sexual assault on the young girl, such as details of the injuries, her physical and mental well-being, remain unknown pending the completion of medical reports,” she further added.
Tibetans in India and West have flooded social media calling justice for the minor and legal recourse against the alleged perpetrator.
The unfortunate practice of handling sexual assault cases through “internal settlements” has happened on a numerous occasion within the Tibetan community, although there are precedents of handling cases as per the law. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), as well as non-governmental organisations have taken steps to address this issue through awareness and sensitization initiatives over the years. As per the Tibetan Women’s Empowerment Policy, the CTA operates under a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
10 Responses
thank you Phayul.com I still don’t know what is the work of Tibetan Women’s Association…..
Tibetan govt give Tibetan lawyer to 12 year old nun rape victim, and start legal case agaisnt the Tibetan man perpetrator, and update regularly in all mainsteam media channels. Parliament deputy speaker spoke very stronly against women’s empowerment recently against such rape of women by rapists in our society. I request Dolma Tsering to speak on this matter more strongly. so many rape cases go unreported. This abuse of women must be discussed in parliament under WED program, or women’s empowerment desk. rape is evil.
But why parliment deputy speaker did not clearly mention the rape of 12 year old female nun when she spoke about Empowerment of Tibetan women? she must speak out, if she wants to outseat Penpa Tsering to become the next prime minister under women’s right ticket.
Thank you Phayul for bringing this out, non of our media is reporting on this topic, raping a 12-year nun, destroying her life, and trying to do an internal settlement by constructing chorten, omg.
If Tibetan YouTuber Tibetan Tsering has not reported, then this issue will be hidden and internal settlement done. Tibetan women of all ages should never let this sort of thing go unreported, in the past people have tried to get this sort of thing settled internally without reporting due to fear of society backlash, this all gives rise to more shameful incidents like this.
Bad action brings bad experience. The criminal deserves a bad punishment.
If the WED’s (read CTA) policy is zero tolerance, just “advising” the settlements authorities to pursue such a case legally is inadequate. How is zero-tolerance policy ensured without an enforcement mechanism other than “advice”?
Thank you Phayul News for reporting this incident and I really appreciate it. Unfortunately other so called Tibetan main stream medias are kept silent and this is immoral and unethical media. Luckily the social media platforms are very powerful and everyone is media person in this digital world. We made the authorities to take a legal action otherwise the matter would be resolved internally.
Furthermore ,Our prioritization of protecting our community’s image over seeking justice for the victims has ultimately led to more harm than good. The internal decay of our community, caused by numerous cover-ups, is becoming increasingly evident and unbearable.
It is time for us to reevaluate our values and take a stronger stance against criminal behavior.
Om mani peme hung 😭😭😭📿📿📿 I pray for ani la’s and all who have been victims of such heinous and unspeakable and shameful crime… I hope ani la’s identity is protected and the perpetrator is tried by the rule of law…
Thank you Phayul for your coverage of this incident.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the young survivor who has been caused such inconceivable mental and physical pain, trauma and scarring for the rest of her life. We are all relieved to hear that the relevant authorities are doing all they can to investigate the matter throughly, bring justice to the survivor and hold the perpetrator accountable for his heinous act.
I also hope that our community and the various groups and associations within our community can offer the survivor support, assistance, understanding, privacy and a judgement-free environment.
Finally, we are all anxiously awaiting updates on this incident and hope Phayul will be have another article/report for us in the near future.
Thank you
I’ve stayed in bylakuppe for more than 20 years now and I was born and raise here till now I never heard any rape case this is the first time hearing it and even with nun is so shameful and him being a adult and father of two kids and even has a daughter how can he even think of doing that to a nun and leave the nun before nun she is a daughter of someone father how could he face if his daughter goes through this what will he gonna do. This is not a small things to keep it within the carpet. This is a lesson learnt for all the community to be alert 🚨 may god punish him what he did to that poor nun 🥺
Good job…noticed,none of media house are interested in this topic except phayul…