The Dalai Lama, visiting the Jaipur region near New Delhi in India, has asked that mercy be shown in the case of the men accused of last month’s brutal gang rape and murder of a woman on a bus in New Delhi.

The Tibetan leader has been a steadfast opponent of the death penalty, which contradicts the Buddhist philosophy of nonviolence.

In July 2011, the Dalai Lama, then 76 years old, traveled to Chicago, where he praised Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn for abolishing the death penalty in his state.

The Delhi rape case has sparked debate over the Indian legal system, and public anger has been directed at officials in a city informally christened India’s “rape capital,” according to Reuters.