Nima | Sarpang

Sarpang court yesterday upheld Umling drungkhag court’s judgment on the case where a businesswoman from Gelephu breached mandatory quarantine protocol and was sentenced to three months in prison last month.

According to the judgment, police in Gelephu appealed the court, as the convict was not given the highest penalty, which is not in accordance with the Supreme Court’s notification to impose the highest penalty for breach of Covid-19 protocol.

The woman was charged under section 448 of the Penal Code of Bhutan for threatening public safety, public order, and tranquillity.  The offence is a petty misdemeanour that has a prison term ranging from one month to less than one year.

Gelephu police had appealed to the court that the accused was given the lowest penalty, a three-month prison term, for the breach of Covid-19 protocol.

The judgment states that the accused was sentenced to three months, which is not the lowest penalty, and was also detained for two months and 10 days.

Without a list of cases related to the Covid-19 protocol breach within the country, the court couldn’t admit the ground of appeal that a three-month prison term was the least.

The woman was sentenced on February 8 to three months for breaching the seven-day mandatory quarantine protocol while moving from Gelephu to Thimphu in November last year.