The pornographic clip was shared on a tourism forum through WeChat

Crime: Lhuentse police arrested a 39-year-old freelance cultural tour guide on April 23 for distributing a pornographic clip on a social media forum.

As the guide posted the pornographic clip from Takila, Lhuentse, police said a case has been registered there. The guide had posted the pornographic clip on a tourism forum through the popular mobile application, WeChat.

The tourism stakeholders’ forum has about 339 members as of yesterday of which the police chief was one. The police is also looking for the source after the guide revealed it. The source from whom the pornographic clip originated is suspected to be in Takila.

Speaking to Kuensel, police Chief Brigadier Kipchu Namgyel said that the Royal Bhutan Police will be launching a massive crackdown on distribution of pornographic content on social media.

“We request everyone to refrain from such acts and caution those who are into it,” Brigadier Kipchu Namgyel said. “Such act is a penal offence and punishable in line with the law.”

Urging people to be mindful of distribution of such content on social media, Brigadier Kipchu Namgyel requested people to refrain from indulging in such unlawful practices.

The case will be forwarded to the court along with the source that sent the material to him, said the police.

Although making and sharing of pornography is illegal in Bhutan, the punishment is not severe. Section 476 of the penal code states that, if a person publishes and distributes an obscene photograph or picture on the computer or over the internet, a crime of computer pornography has been committed.  This crime is a misdemeanour, carrying a sentence between one to three years.

Kinga Dema