The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Two Indian teachers accused of battering Sangay Tenzin, 19 a student of Sherubling Higher Secondary School (HSS) in Trongsa on 8 December have been charged for the offence of battery and aiding and abetting.
The main accused, a 40 year old teacher was charged for battery under section 158 of the Penal Code of Bhutan which states that a defendant shall be guilty of the offence, if the defendant purposely uses physical force of an adverse nature on another person.
“The offence of battery shall be a petty misdemeanor or misdemeanor, if aggravated circumstances are present,” the section 159 stated.
The other 39 year old teacher has been booked for aiding and abetting which under section 125 finds a defendant guilty of the offence of being an accessory to a criminal activity to help another person in the commission of a crime.
However the Trongsa police have also levied two charges against 19 year old Sangay Tenzin. The charges imposed are,’ trespass and malicious mischief’ under the Penal Code of Bhutan.
The case was forwarded to the court yesterday.
A source from the court said miscellaneous hearings have been conducted and preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin in the Trongsa court very soon.
The matter was reported to the police on the evening of 8 December after the victim had gone to the hospital for treatment but no actions were taken against the two teachers.
In an earlier interview with The Bhutanese, Sangay Tenzin said “The only fault I had was entering the classroom just to study, for which I apologized several times to the teacher who saw me. Despite that I was beaten the next day. One of them caught me by my hands and the other battered me”.
Despite the two teachers’ confession of the crime, no arrests were made except that the two teachers were asked to submit a written statement which they did accordingly.
Chencho Dema / Thimphu
