Victim’s sister is witness in Punakha rape case of a minor

Punakha Police arrested a 27-year-old man for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl on 21 August.

The victim is a class VIII student in one of the schools in Punakha, while the suspect is married to the victim’s elder sister.

The incident took place around 2 AM on 21 August, and it was reported to the police at around 8 AM the same day by the victim’s father.

The suspect, on that day, had come home drunk, whereby, he had directly entered the victim’s room and raped her.

It is learnt that during the incident, there was another girl, who is the victim’s cousin, sleeping with her in the same room.

The victim rushed to her elder sister and reported the incident. When she went to check on her husband (the suspect), he was seen coming out of the victim’s bed pulling up his pants.

Police said that though the suspect confessed to the crime at first, he later denied saying that he confessed to the crime since he was drunk.

Police have booked the charges under the rape of a minor. As per section 183 of Penal Code Amendment Act of Bhutan 2011, a defendant shall be guilty of the offence of rape of a child above the age of twelve years, if the defendant commits any act of sexual intercourse against a child between the ages of twelve to eighteen years. However, consensual sex between children of sixteen years and above shall not be deemed to be rape.

The offence of rape of a child above the age of twelve years shall be a felony of second degree (9 to 15 years of imprisonment) as per section 184 of the same act.

The police forensic report showed signs of sexual intercourse.

The police did not take the statement of the cousin in the room as the suspect had confessed to the crime and the elder sister had seen her husband coming out of the bed pulling his pant up.

Police have forwarded the case to Office of Attorney General (OAG) on 13 September for prosecution.

Check Also

Celebrating world savings day: BNB empowers young savers across Bhutan

On 31 October, Bhutan National Bank (BNB) celebrated the World Savings Day by offering financial …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *