That’s what he’s called. Dawa Gyalsten, a middle-aged schoolteacher from Dharamsala, Himachal, is the Tibet community’s most famous outcast. He doesn’t have the right to vote because he’s charged with contempt of court; he criticised the supreme justice commission of the Tibetan ‘government – in – exile’ for its verdict on an educational scholarship. He is probably the only refugee in the world who’s been declared an outcast by a ‘refugee government’ itself in exile.
Since then, Gyaltsen has been on the run. He has appealed to the ‘Tibetan administration’ in India for justice. He’s met the Dalai Lama, who sent his plea to the justice commission asking them to review the case. Their response: the decision of the commission is final. Frustrated, Gyalsten will now appeal to the Himachal Pradesh high court, challenging the verdict of the Tibetan court.
This is a first. The fact that India does not recognise the Tibetan administration politically or legally makes it a complex scenario.
Meanwhile, for all Gyalsten’s “mental; suffering”, all he’s been getting is cold official responses. The three pillars of the Tibetan administration – the ‘justice commission’, ‘cabinet’ and the ‘assembly’ – have decided to contest together against him.
So much for Individual freedom in a Free Tibet!
This piece appeared in the first issue of tehelka, a weekly newspaper started by tehelka.com, dated 7 February, 2004. Dawa has already appealed to the Himachal high court.
