The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Two teenage girls, aged 17 and 18, failed to return home after a school program on June 10, leaving their parents in distress. The girls’ prolonged absence, spanning two nights, deepened the worry of their parents, prompting them to approach the school authorities for assistance. Acting swiftly, the school authorities utilized a messaging application on one of the parents’ devices to trace the girls’ location.
Finally, in the evening, they successfully located them and recovered their daughters the next day. The girls’ parents revealed that their daughters had been persuaded to join a post-school picnic at the residence of a police officer and his five friends. However, they were later prohibited from leaving and were unable to contact their families.
Sources say there were alleged rape attempts, but this is yet to be verified.
Following this unsettling incident, on Monday, both the alleged victims and their parents reported the case to the school authorities. After attentively listening to the accounts provided by the alleged victims, the school authorities deemed it necessary to escalate the matter to the District Education Officer (DEO) due to the potential involvement of criminal activities. Subsequently, the DEO engaged in further discussions and subsequently forwarded the case to the police department.
The principal of the school, while shedding light on the situation, commented, “The incident occurred on Saturday, immediately after the conclusion of the school program. The same night, the students failed to reach their homes, and their concerned parents contacted us. After which they filed missing complaints to the police.”
Meanwhile, the elder sister of one of the alleged victims described the initial phase of the incident as a missing persons’ case. The girls had disappeared on Saturday evening after attending their school program, leading their family members to file a missing persons’ report with the police department. Luckily, one of the girls had inadvertently remained logged into her Facebook account on her father’s phone, which ultimately facilitated the successful location of their whereabouts. The anxious search for the girls continued until Monday when a breakthrough occurred.
The elder sister revealed that, initially, the girls had misled their families by claiming they were in Phuentsholing, only to be found later in Samtse town. As investigations proceed, the girls are currently undergoing their examinations and have been provided with counseling services to assist them during this challenging time.
Colonel Passang Dorji, the Deputy Chief of Police (DCoP), acknowledged the incident and confirmed ongoing investigations, stating, “We have a report at hand, and our investigation is currently underway. A committee has been formed, and we are diligently processing the case.”
Concurrently, a media agency has reported that the alleged attempted rape case involves a police officer and five other individuals.
