The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Penjore, who was alleged of defaming the Office of Attorney General (OAG) through his Facebook post in May 2021 has appealed to High Court on 8 June 2022. The Thimphu District Court on 9 May 2022 has acquitted Penjore of defamation charges.
Penjore has appealed to the High Court on three grounds.
The district court had denied the compensation as requested by Penjore for keeping him under police detention for 16 days, which Penjore claims is illegal to do so. Though the district court has dismissed the OAG’s sedition case against Penjore in June 2021, he was again charge sheeted to the court for defamation by the RBP in November after permission from OAG.
He said, “I was acquitted by the District Court, which means I was right, and thereby, I appealed to the High Court for compensation. I am doing this for everyone, as a whole, and if they are held liable then I believe that the country and people will have trust in the judiciary and law.”
He said, “I am respectful of the judgment from the District Court, and I am happy, however, I feel that all the seven executive members of BNBL should be held accountable. They should equally be prosecuted like the 12 former employees who were compulsorily retired.”
His third ground of appeal is for the court to take action against the Attorney General for dropping the charges against the BNBL Executives.
Police had charged the seven executive members for official misconduct and failure to report the crime, but OAG dropped the charges against them stating there is not enough evidence to prosecute them, he said.
He said like in the Dasho Benji Dorji vs DPT defamation case where Dasho Benji was paid compensation he also wants accountability fixed otherwise such things would keep happening.
All the documents that were submitted to court should be enough to justify, Penjore said.
Meanwhile, the registration hearing took place on 13 June 2022 at the High Court and the case was registered.
