Tibetan arrested at Rumtek after two and half month walk which started in Amdo

GANGTOK, 31 Aug: Karma Gelek walked all the way from Amdo in the Tibet Autonomous Region through Bhutan right up to the Rumtek Monastery gates where he was apprehended by the police. While Tibetan Refugees are usually pushed back from the border regions itself, the route taken by Karma Gelek to enter Sikkim [through Bhutan and from Rangpo] has made his case different and he has been sent to judicial custody under the 14 Foreigners Registration Act for having illegally entered the country. This is because Karma entered India via Bhutan and made into Sikkim without the required travel documents.
SP East, Dr. MS Tuli, confirming the arrest of the Tibetan national, stated that since he entered Sikkim through the Rangpo check-post without valid documents or a passport, he had to be booked under the Foreigners Registration Act.

Karma Gelek passed through the Rangpo check-post undetected, walked all the way to Ranipool and then onwards to Rumtek. At the Rumtek monastery gates he was apprehended as was trying to enter by the paramilitary personnel posted there. Not knowing the local language and speaking only the dialect spoken in Amdo, the security personnel at the monastery gates got suspicious and took him into custody as a Chinese national. He is to be chargesheeted soon and under provisions of the said Act can be imprisoned for up to 6 months. Thereafter, as the SP East informed, he will be pushed back. Again, given the route he took, it remains to be seen where he is “pushed back” from.
It is informed that Karma Gelek entered Bhutan at the Tashigang border there. He had started his journey on 11 June, walked all the way to Thimpu and then travelled another 35 days to reach Sikkim. He had no belongings with him and was here purportedly on a pilgrimage trip.