The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has charge-sheeted the Trashigang rape case of a minor victim to Trashigang District Court on 18th February 2025 charging the accused medical professional with rape of child above 12 years of age.
The Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) charge-sheeted the case to OAG, charging the suspect with the rape of a child above 12 years of age on 6th November 2024.
As per the Penal Code of Bhutan, a defendant shall be guilty of the offence of rape of a child above the age of twelve years, if the defendant has sexual intercourse with a child between the age of twelve to eighteen years.
The offence shall be a felony of the third degree with a term of imprisonment, a minimum of which shall be five years and a maximum of which shall be less than nine years.
The case will be an important one as while there is no direct DNA evidence, there are circumstantial evidences and the testimony of the victim.
Background
The family of a minor patient accused a medical professional of alleged rape during a medical treatment session in Trashigang on 12th September 2024.
The complaint was reported by the victim’s mother from the hospital upon which the police team along with a forensic team immediately went and conducted a medical examination.
Police discovered a condom from the scene. However, the DNA tests from condom and other evidence yielded negative results.
Nevertheless, the victim’s statement, together with circumstantial evidence, pointed to the suspect and led to the charge-sheet.
The victim is an epilepsy patient who at the time of the incident was undergoing treatment under the care of the accused.
As per the statements from the minor and her parents, she went through the sexual assault twice on two occasions in the course of treatment upon which she disclosed the incident to her mother after the second time.
The minor’s parents shared that during first visit to the hospital, her father accompanied her for a checkup but was asked to leave the room by the medical professional.
The father shared that his daughter first told her mother that the medical professional allegedly locked the door, closed the windows and raped her.
During the second checkup, when his wife accompanied the daughter, she was asked by the medical staff to get free eye glasses from the hospital which she went to get as an eye patient. The daughter was with her, but the medical professional took her saying her health book was with him in his office.
When the mother returned, she could not find her daughter. Suspecting something was wrong, she checked the medical professional’s chamber and found it locked.
After knocking, her daughter eventually opened the door. Inside, the medical professional acted nonchalantly, even complimenting the mother on her glasses and offering them Nu 300 for refreshments.
It was then that the minor confided in her mother saying the medical professional is not a good person as he raped her during the first checkup too.
Despite the trauma, the minor initially didn’t open up to anyone thinking no one would believe her and accuse her of lying. She wasn’t even able to disclose the incident to her parents who held the medical professional in high regard.
The father said, “Though we are from Trashiyangtse, we don’t have big doctors and hospital like that of Trashigang, so we travelled there in hope of getting our daughter treated well. During the first checkup, I accompanied her. She didn’t tell me anything about the sexual assault. However, when I think back, she did show some reluctance when we had to come for the second checkup.”
The father said that his daughter disclosed the assault to her mother before they decided to report it to the police.
“I couldn’t believe what my daughter shared to her mother. I even asked my wife to confirm with her before making the report.”
After confirmation, the father immediately called the police, who responded promptly to initiate an investigation.
Following the incidents, the minor’s education has been disrupted and she is repeating this year in the 5th grade again.
