Rinchen Drolma, a 23-year-old Tibetan nun from Garu Nunnery near Lhasa, was arrested on 14 June 1993 along with ten other nuns. The group was accused of participating in a pro-independence demonstration advocating Tibetan independence. However, reports suggest that the nuns were detained before they were able to begin the protest.

Following her arrest, Rinchen Drolma was reportedly sentenced to a prison term of two to four years. Like the other detained nuns, she was believed to have been held in Drapchi Prison in Lhasa, a facility known for housing many Tibetan political prisoners. Her detention formed part of a broader pattern in which Tibetan nuns and monks were imprisoned for peaceful political expression during the early 1990s.