The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In response to ‘23 gamblers arrested by police for questioning’
Sir,
If Gambling is considered a very serious offence in Bhutan why are laws so lenient? If law makers strengthened the law in accordance with the seriousness of the offence, gambling would not have prevailed rampantly as stated in the paper.
I have grown up hearing that the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) is an institution we can depend on as public servants. If that is the case, where were they when gambling dens and gamblers operated rampantly?
If Gambling is a serious offence but ‘a flourishing business in the country’ as quoted in the paper what makes the RBP wait until someone ultimately walks in to lodge a complaint. As an organization with the sole authority to safeguard the laws of the country, I feel they should have rather acted on their own initiative than wait for someone to come and lodge a complaint.
Out of 23 people arrested, I have learnt that some of them were helpers, which means that they were employed. As a concerned citizen of Bhutan and as a youth myself, I feel in a way these gambling houses are indirectly helping the government ease the burden of youth unemployment.
Another striking revelation in the story is that after raiding the place and arresting 23 people authorities recovered just Nu 337 from the cash box.
It can perhaps be said here that the police seem more interested to bait small fishes and ignore the big time sharks. Are the police simply apprehensive about repercussions to round them up?
With just Nu 337 recovered from an ambush operation and the case still under investigation it is just simply harassment for these small time gamblers although it was a job well done by the police.
We are waiting to hear about similar raids in all the other gambling places which the RBP are much presumably and already aware of but have put on wait.
Tshomo and Yangchen