The Hindu : National : FIR filed against ‘damage’ to Bodhi tree

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Monday, Jun 25, 2007
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FIR filed against ‘damage’ to Bodhi tree

K. Balchand

PATNA:

PATNA: A Buddhist monk has lodged a case before the Gaya Chief Judicial Magistrate against alleged chopping of branches of the sacred Bodhi tree in the Mahabodhi temple in Gaya almost a year ago.

Arup Bramhachari filed the case after police refused to entertain his complaint. The case has been filed on the basis of the claims of a gardener of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee (BGTMC) that he axed the branches of the peepal tree.

In his affidavit, the BGTMC employee, Deepak Malakar, claimed that he hacked the branches at the directive of the temple’s chief priest Bhadant Bodhipala on July 10, 2006 for grafting it as a separate plant at his residence.

Apart from listing four witnesses in support of his complaint, the monk has also appended more than half-a-dozen photographs, which he claimed pertained to the sacred tree, charging that several branches had been severed for personal reasons impairing the 2500-year-old tree and temple.

Besides the chief priest, the ex-officio chairman (who happens to be the DM) of the BGTMC, secretary Kalicharan Yadav and other committee members have been accused of violating different provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984, and Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act 1988.

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