Nim Dorji | Trongsa

Bumthang dzongkhag court sentenced Karma Drupchu, 55, from Tashigang to three years and three months in prison for molesting his 12-year-old niece.

The incident occurred on March 21 last year when Karma Drupchu came to the victim’s house in Bumthang to pick up her father, who is his brother. The two were supposed to work together.

The convict spent the night there and shared the room with the victim and her younger brother as there were no other rooms.

According to the judgement, Karma Drupchu made the children watch porn movies on his phone and asked the girl to sleep with him.




The victim’s 11-year-old brother told his parents, police, school counsellor and RENEW volunteer that the uncle asked his sister to sleep with him even before he fell asleep.

He told that he fell asleep and woke up to find his sister crying and the uncle on top of her without pants.

It was learnt that Karma Drupchu gave Nu 300 to the victim and influenced her to sleep with him, but she pushed him away. When she fell asleep, he tried raping her.

A medical examination ruled out rape.

Karma Drupchu initially denied having touched the girl intentionally.




He also questioned the legitimacy of the victim’s brother as a witness in the investigation and claimed that the boy was small and that his family members could have influenced him.

To examine the credibility of the child witness, the court recently conducted a video conference with the children who were by then taken by their elder sister.

The judgement stated that the children stated all the facts explicitly as their statements to the police. “The convict then confessed to having touched the girl.”