The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Wangduephodrang police apprehended a 22-year-old man on the evening of 21 July 2022 in connection to raping an 8-year-old girl, a class II in one of the schools in Wangduephodrang.
It was learnt that the victim shouted for help, which was heard by a group of people working along the roadside. The group rescued her and immediately informed the school principal, and accordingly, the principal reported the incident to police.
The incident took place at around 3 pm when the victim was returning home from her school. The victim was able to distinctly remember that she had met the alleged rapist in the morning of 21 July 2022 while she heading towards school.
The paper was told that the girl fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital for immediate medical treatment. She was discharged from the hospital on 22 July.
Police said that the suspect is under arrest and he has confessed to dragging the victim below the road to commit the crime.
He is to be charged for statutory rape and section 182 of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2011, the offence of statutory rape shall be a felony of the first degree (a term of imprisonment, a minimum of which shall be fifteen years and a maximum of which shall be life imprisonment).
Section 181 of the same Act states that a defendant shall be guilty of the offence of statutory rape, if the defendant engages in any act of sexual intercourse whatever its nature with a child below twelve years, or an incompetent person, either with or without knowledge of the other person being a child or incompetent person.
The suspect will be forwarded to OAG after the investigation.
