Nepal nun loses "her religion" after being raped

Kathmandu, Jul 11: One of the "rarest of rare" sexual crimes in Buddha's birth place Nepal compelled a 21-year-old Buddhist nun to lose her nunnery as she had been gangraped by five men in a public bus in June, 2011.

The nun was raped on June 24 in a bus while travelling to eastern Nepal. Due to the rains, the bus arrived at the destination very late and she was forced to spend the night inside it. The rapists were the bus driver, his two helpers, and the driver and helper of another bus. They also looted the money she was carrying with her.

Following this brutal incident, the young woman after being treated in a hospital, had to face the additional ordeal of being stripped of her religious habit and was expelled from nunnery. Nepal's Buddhist organisations said that she won't be considered a bhikshuni (Buddhist nun) after the rape.

The victim was left in a pathetic condition after the assault wavering between life and death in the hospital. It resulted the family to be under heavy monetary burden paying off nearly Rs 3 lakhs for her entire treatment.

"Such a thing never happened in the Buddha's lifetime," said Norbu Sherpa, an official of Nepal Buddhist Federation adding, "So he did not leave instructions about how to deal with the situation. Buddhists all over the world adhere to what he had laid down: that a person can no longer be considered ordained in case of having a physical relationship. It's applicable to both men and women."

OneIndia News