The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Thimphu police recovered the body of a newborn baby, discarded near the Kuensel office in Changzamtog, Thimphu, on the evening of November 22.
A joint investigation with the forensic department could not identify whether the baby was a boy or a girl, as a stray dog had mutilated the body.
Police handed over the body to the Thimphu Thromde on 25 November for proper disposal and are awaiting the forensic report for further investigation.
Police said the body was wrapped in a white baby cloth and probably disposed in a dustbin.
According to Police the penal code of Bhutan has a section on Abandonment of the dead infant or a child, which states that a person arrested for improper disposal of a dead infant will be charged for petty misdemeanor (one month to one year prison).
In addition, the person will also be charged for misdemeanor (one year to three years prison). Police also said that it is illegal to dispose a dead infant in the river as per the environment act.
A Thromde official said there is no specific law but in general a person found polluting river or water is liable for fine of Nu.1000. “As per the environment act, we are not allowed to dispose the infant in river, so we bury at Memelakha area,” the official said. “There is no place allocated for such cases, we decide with the situation.”
He said this is the first case reported in 2016 while in 2015 they received two such cases.
