The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) let go of the Indian tourist, Abhijit Ratan Hajare, after he apologized, in writing citing ignorance, for his behavior. The other man, who was identified as Jambay, was doing repair works on the Chortens at Dochula, and was also let go since he was found innocent.
The passport of the Abhijit Ratan Hajare from the Indian state of Maharashtra was taken by RBP yesterday after the picture of the man standing on the Chorten along with another man sitting on top of Chorten, went viral on the social media. A video also emerged of the incident later.
The carpenter, Jambay, was widely mistaken to be another tourist. The Indian tourist had come across Jambay and he allowed him to climb on the ladder. RBP later found that Jambay had not actually climbed on the Chorten but he was doing his repair job.
Abhijit Ratan Hajare was part of a 15-biker convoy headed by a Bhutanese woman team leader. The incident happened when the bikers were resting at Dochula and the Bhutanese team leader was trying to arrange parking for the bikes. The team leader was unaware of the incident.
However, the factor for letting the tourist go was that for any legal charge to be applied under the Penal Code of Bhutan, he would have to destroy or damage the Chorten.
The incident caused much outrage among Bhutanese as this is just one of the any incidents involving regional tourists desecrating and crowding holy sites.
Many Indians came online to apologize as the incident went viral and was picked up by Indian news outlets too.
