DHARAMSHALA, December 31: Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said the recent incident of a brutal gang rape of a young girl in New Delhi is “very, very sad” and expressed his concern over the degeneration of moral values in the society.

The Dalai Lama was speaking to a major Indian news channel NDTV in the Indian capital.

“Firstly, such incidents are really very, very sad,” the 77-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader said. “India is a huge country with a long history and a very, very civilised cultural heritage of non-violence - ahimsa.”

The Dalai Lama noted that although material development with modern education is helpful and necessary, he urged concerned people to pay more serious attention in developing India’s own ancient traditional values.

“These traditional values are basis of moral principles, now that is lacking.”

The Tibetan leader who has lived in India for over five decades now and calls the country his home added that he is concerned over the degeneration of India’s thousands of years old values.

‘Delhi’s Braveheart,’ a 23-year-old medical student, succumbed to her injuries in a hospital in Singapore on Saturday after a gruelling 13-day ordeal. She was repeatedly raped on a moving bus in the Indian capital on December 16 and violated with an iron bar before being thrown from the moving vehicle.

The incident came as a cruel wake up shock to the entire nation, prompting massive protests in the capital and in other cities demanding speedy justice, more stringent anti-rape laws and better security for women.

The Dalai Lama is scheduled to leave for Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh to give four days of teachings on Shantideva's A Guide to the Boddhisattva's Way of Life (chodjug) from January 7 to 10. He is also scheduled to inaugurate a three-day International Buddhist Samagam (convention) at the Buddha Smriti Park in Patna. The convention is expected to attract over 1500 delegates from China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Japan, Myanmar, and other parts of the world.