Bhutanese temple thieves get life

By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta

Temples in Bhutan often contain valuable artefacts

Seven people in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan have been sentenced to life in prison for stealing precious artefacts from monasteries and temples. The court found three others guilty of lesser offences and jailed them for between four and nine years.

Wealthy Bhutanese often leave jewels and valuables in temples as offerings.

Thefts from the buildings started in the 1970s when Westerners first visited the kingdom, prompting fears they were being stolen to order for foreigners.

Statues destroyed

The court in the western town of Paro found that the two gangs had stolen from monasteries (gompas) and temples (lakhangs) between October last year and February.

One gang not only stole from a religious site but also vandalised it before destroying several statutes at a nearby temple.

Temples are found across the length and breadth of Bhutan

For these offences, four of the defendants received life sentences.

Three other defendants found guilty of robbing other holy sites and burgling two private houses were also given life sentences.

The caretaker of a monastery was sentenced to nine years for not reporting the crimes to the authorities although he knew of the thefts, the court said.

His accomplice, who has been a policeman for 16 years, was found guilty of conspiring and aiding the thefts and was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

Another man was jailed for four years after he was found guilty of illegally purchasing and selling antiques.

Offerings

Officials say that thefts from monasteries and temples started in the 1970s, around the time Western tourists were first allowed to enter the country.

The authorities at that time were fearful that photographs of religious treasures taken by tourists could result in them being stolen to order.

The main targets for Bhutan's temple thieves have been Tibetan-style artefacts in monasteries and temples.

Jewels, gold statues of the Buddha and other treasures are often left as offerings in these buildings by rich Bhutanese.

But such valuables are often the targets of the thieves, because they are located in remote areas and are widely seen as soft targets.

Edinburgh University anthropologist Richard Whitecross, who has studied the traumatic effect on Bhutanese society of the thefts, says the thieves usually carry out robberies away from their home villages.

"But that has changed in recent years and now there are cases of villagers stealing religious artefacts from temples and monasteries in their own villages," he said.

"So far, these buildings have been treated like living people and thefts from them were treated like murders."

Historically Bhutan has dealt with criminals in a humanitarian way in line with the Buddha's teachings, which urged compassion.

But the desecration of holy places has prompted calls in the national assembly for offenders to be executed.