Chencho Dema

Wangdue—The Kazhi Gup, was charged with culpable driving by the Wangdue police after a tragic incident that resulted in the death of a man in his 50s. The incident occurred on June 7 in Phangyul gewog.

Police charged the 37-year-old Gup under Section 66 (1 and 2 (b)) of the Road Safety and Transport Authority Act 1999, which states that a person who culpably drives a motor vehicle and causes the death of another person is guilty of an offence and liable to imprisonment for at least six months or as the Court determines or to a penalty of 50 penalty units or both. Section 2 (b) states that a person culpably drives a motor vehicle if he or she drives the motor vehicle with unjustifiable gross non-observance of a standard of care which a reasonable person would have observed in all the circumstances.

The case was forwarded to the Wangdue court on June 25.

The accused, who was initially detained by Wangdue police, was released on bail on June 9. The deceased was an Extended Support Personnel (ESP) for the Wangdue Dzongkhag.

The Gup  did not have a driver’s license. The incident took place in Phangyul gewog after an irrigation project event.

According to sources, following the celebration, the Gup loaded metal tent poles into the back of his Bolero. While the accused was reversing the vehicle, the poles struck a gate, causing the deceased, who had climbed the gate to remove decorations (Dhar), to fall.

It was reported that the impact from the poles led to the victim’s fatal fall.  The victim was rushed to Wangdue hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.