Chencho Dema

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has charged a Member of Parliament (MP) from the opposition party with child molestation in a case filed yesterday at the Trongsa court.

The allegations emerged nearly two months after they were initially reported, involving an incident that allegedly occurred two years ago.

The 42-year-old MP faces accusations of molesting a then 14-year-old girl while serving as a gewog administrative officer in Nubi gewog in Trongsa.

According to the Penal Code of Bhutan, child molestation is classified as a fourth-degree felony, carrying a sentence of three to five years in prison.

The Trongsa Police handed over the case against the MP to the OAG on August 9.

The alleged incident, which took place two years ago, came to light when the victim’s mother sought treatment for her daughter at The PEMA Secretariat, where the incident was revealed.

The PEMA Secretariat then lodged a complaint with the Trongsa police on July 9. The accused MP was arrested on July 24 but was granted bail the same day.

The delay in the arrest was due to the MP’s parliamentary immunity. As the first session of the fourth Parliament opened its summer session on June 9.

According to the Parliament Act, MPs cannot be summoned 15 days prior to and 15 days after a parliamentary session. The MP’s parliamentary immunity expired on July 23.

In an earlier interview with Kuensel, the mother of the victim said that the MP molested her 14-year-old daughter two years back when he worked as a gewog administration officer of Nubi gewog in Trongsa.

The MP is accused of going inside the house of the victim when there was no one. The victim was alone and was sleeping. The accused is said to have grabbed her daughter’s left breast. At the time of the incident, the mother was away in the forest collecting mushrooms with her friends.

The victim’s family was living in a small house owned by the MP’s elder brother, next to the MP’s house then.

Initially the victim’s family wanted to lodge a complaint against the MP but the issue was resolved internally then.

In his earlier interview, the MP denied the allegations. He said that during the time of the incident, he was outside the house cleaning the drain and had gone inside the house to ask for a hard broom. When he found the girl sleeping with the blanket covered, he pulled the blanket and that’s when he accidentally touched the girl.

It is said that the MP had given the victim a laptop, though he denied any connection between the laptop and the incident. He said that he had also provided clothes and other items to the family in the past.