( 1 ) ISSUES which generate public debate often lead to articles and books which may be found defamatory and offensive by some and yet be held out to be the truthful assertion by the author. The question in dispute which gives rise to the present suit is as to who is the real 17th Karmapa of Karmo Kargu Sect of Tibetan Buddisim.

( 2 ) ACCORDING to the plaint the plaintiff is the 13th Incarnate of the Shamarpa, an important lama of the karma Kgyu sect of the Tibetan Buddhism. The plaintiff came to India with the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa in the year 1959 and stayed in Rumtek, Sikkim

( 3 ) THE suit is founded on the following pleas a) the defendant No. 1 Lea Terhune, the author was said to be the Secretary of Tat Situ Rimpocha (TSR) who still remains banned from entering Sikkim by the Government of india and the book in question "karmapa THE POLITICS OF reincarnation and efforts to publish it in India have led to the filing of the present suit. Thus the defamatory allegations of which the plaintiff seeks an expunction along with reply to the averments by defendant no. 1 is reproduced as under: s. No defamatory Allegations reply in the written statement of defendant No. 1 1. Father of the plaintiff died of alcohol.

"when he was a year and a half old, his father died, helped along by alcohol, which he used to numb his increasing frustration and despair"the statements are based on an unpublished autobiographical account of the plaintiff.

2. MOTHER married again to a CIA agent. "several months after his father s death, Shamarpa s mother married again, a man named Yeshe Raru, who joined the CIA supported guerilla group "four Rivers Six ranges". Characterized as "a pan-khampa resistance movement", it took its name from an ancient name from kham. Raru was trained by the Americans, parachuted into tibet, and wasn t heard from again. It later came out that he was shot during some nighttime warfare; he drew on a cigarette and was sighted by a sniper and killed" there is no reply to this by the defendant No. 1 in her ws.

3. DEPICTION of the plaintiff as a clever, diplomatic and of dishonest character, who asked everybody to read machivelli s "the Prince". "one book he asked to read was Machivelli s The Prince. It was amusing to see him walking around the Woodstock center, a copy of Machiavelli in hand" based on personal knowledge and observation.

4. PLAINTIFF has been greasing the palms of the bureaucrats and officials of the Intelligence Bureau in Indian government. "in India "speed money" is a euphemism for bribes required to get things done quickly, or get thing done period. Supports of the Seventeenth Karmapa, such as members of Sikkim s Joint Action Committee, which was formed to bring the Seventeenth Karmapa back to Rumtek, feel that the ban order against Tai Situpa came from greasting the palms of susceptible bureaucrats and agents in the intelligence bureau. Hard evidence of this kind of activity is difficult to come by, of course, especially if the recipients of largesse are in India intelligence, where Shamarpa is said to have his strongest allies. " the statements are allegedly based on articles by the manvendra Singh and Isabel Hilton.

5. THE plaintiff sold the Karmapa s monastery in Bhutan. "one thing that shook Rumtek Tibetans was when Topga and shamarpa "sold" the Karmapa s monastery in Bhutan, Tashi choling, for the reported sum of forty lakhs rupees, about 120,000 U. S. Dollars at that time". No rebuttal to this para. Rebuttal is to para at page 164. Further, the defendant says that this does not relate to the Plaintiff. If this is the case, then why has the name of the plaintiff mentioned here?

6. RELATIVES of the plaintiff prospered and hotels came up by the members of plaintiff s family. Plaintiff sought to substitute his name in the place of karmapa in some documents related to the Karmapa s properties. Wholly vague reply, stating that the statements were based on personal interview with the members of the re