The Bhutanese Leading the way.
After the High Court has upheld the District Court’s judgment dismissing the alleged defamation case against Penjore but not providing compensation, Penjore has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court by next week. The High Court pronounced its judgment on 31 August 2022.
The High Court has dismissed the compensation claimed by Penjore for keeping him under detention for 16 days. The judgment further stated that they found no basis to charge the seven executive members of BNBL for official misconduct and failure to report the crime.
Police could not prove the defamation against Penjore beyond the reasonable doubt, wherein they failed to prove that he intentionally posted the post to defame BNBL and OAG. They have failed to prove that the post has really affected the OAG, the judgment stated.
In addition, the judgment also stated they could not approve the compensation as appealed by Penjore as he has not mentioned the amount in his appeal or proved damages.
Meanwhile, Penjore said, “The judgment has not come out fair.”
Penjore questioned when police submitted around 96 pages of investigation report, how come they lack evidence? He added that it seems the court has not reviewed the submitted report.
Coming to compensation part, he said that the court denied to pay the compensation for an arbitrary arrest stating that he has not mentioned the amount in his appeal. Penjore claimed that he verbally submitted to court that any amount would do, but at the end he gets nothing.
“The case had greater impact on my life, my business and on my family. If to talk about amount, I might have to calculate all the impact it had due to the case. It will be too early for me to comment on the amount; however, I will submit an amount to Supreme Court during my appeal,” he added.
He further said that his motive to appeal is to hold everyone equally accountable, and not to get compensated. Now that they have mentioned, he will submit an amount for compensation, he said.
Penjore was alleged of defaming the Office of Attorney General (OAG) through his Facebook post in May 2021.
