Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

The Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag court handed a 32-year and 10-month prison term to a 35-year-old man to for the rape of a girl below the age of 12 on November 2.

The court convicted the defendant in accordance with the Penal Code (Amendment) of Bhutan 2011, which grades the crime as a first-degree felony.

As per the judgement, which was rendered on November 2, the defendant and plaintiff had drawn an agreement where the defendant’s father agreed to pay Nu 40,000 as compensation to the victim’s father. The defendant also agreed to give shares and education to the victim’s son equal to that of his real son.

The police registered the case on May 26 this year after the gewog officials reported that a 12-year-old girl gave birth to a baby boy on the night of May 25. Police arrested the 35-year-old suspect on the same day and forwarded the case to the Office of Attorney (OAG) on July 6.

The victim was a Class VI student who went to the defendant’s house when his mother called her mother to send her to guard the orange grove because there was no one else at home during the second nationwide lockdown. The defendant gave her a mobile phone and she fell asleep playing with it.

“He took advantage and sexually assaulted me. He told me not to tell my parents,” the victim stated in her statement to police. “The defendant gagged me and raped me again.”

The defendant confessed the crime to the court.

Edited by Jigme wangchuk