Indian Biker Detained In Bhutan After Images Of Him Atop A Sacred Buddhist Structure Goes Viral
Indian Tourist Abhijit Ratan Hajare from Maharashtra was detained by the authorities for hurting religious sentiments. He was seen climbing on a Chorten a sacred stupa in Buddhism which symbolizes the presence of Buddha. The incident happened when bikers were resting at Dochula and the team leader was trying to arrange parking.
Traveling the world is a great way to learn about new places, people, and culture. But there are incidents when tourists who are unaware of local culture and tradition end up doing something that may not go down well with the locals.
Abhijit Ratan Hajare from Maharashtra learned this the hard way after he was detained by the authorities for hurting religious sentiments.
According to The Bhutanese, a leading local daily Abhijit was seen climbing on a Chorten, a sacred stupa in Buddhism, which symbolizes the presence of Buddha.
1/3 Breaking: The tourist in the biker outfit is Abhijit Ratan Hajare from the Indian state of Maharashtra.
¡ª The Bhutanese (@thebhutanese) October 18, 2019
In the second picture the man sitting on the ladder is a Bhutanese citizen and carpenter, Jambay, who was doing repair works on the Chortens pic.twitter.com/Mq3vn2VKSI
According to the report, Abhijit was part of a 15 bike convoy that was headed by a Bhutanese team leader. The incident happened when bikers were resting at Dochula and the team leader was trying to arrange parking for the bikes.
The video of Indian Tourist Abhijit Ratan Hajare from Maharashtra climbing the chorten.
¡ª The Bhutanese (@thebhutanese) October 18, 2019
Source: WeChat. pic.twitter.com/MwxzcvjLVl
Abhijit reportedly approached a Bhutanese national who was doing repair works there and used his ladder to climb the Chorten.
Tenzing Lamsang, the editor of The Bhutanese added that there is much outrage in the country over the insensitive and disrespectful actions of Abhijit for standing on a sacred Buddhist Stupa.
Much outrage in Bhutan by actions of these two highly insensitive and disrespectful regional tourists standing on a sacred Buddhist Stupa.
¡ª Tenzing Lamsang (@TenzingLamsang) October 17, 2019
This is one of the many reasons why Bhutan needs to regulate mass regional tourism.
Nationality yet to be confirmed but from South Asia. pic.twitter.com/3GfaVE4CSm
Abhijit's passport has been seized by RBP and he has been asked to appear for interrogation. It also added that an investigation has been launched to identify the local man who helped Abhijit.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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