The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The alleged suspect Tshering Yangki of the Wamrong battery and trespassing case appealed to the high court after she was not satisfied with the judgments made by Wamrong Dungkhag court and Trashigang District court. Both the lower courts pronounced her guilty of battery and trespassing.
The appellant, Tshering Yangki made her opening statement before the court of law on 21 April and she appealed to the court based on six grounds.
She claimed that she is not satisfied with the judgments as the entire judgment was made based on a video clip which was circulated by the alleged victim, Sonam Palden and her family. She said that though there was a tussle between them, the video captured only what she did. She stated that the victim’s son came to her with a screw driver, however, those incidences were not recorded.
She said video does not show her battering Sonam Palden but the courts concluded that she battered her, she said, adding that they have filmed the video with an intention to allege her of the incident.
During her opening statement, she claimed that she is not satisfied with the courts judgment on having to compensate the victim as she did not cause any serious injury to her. She said anything could have happened within themselves as she visited the hospital only after 20 days from the date of incident, she claimed.
She questioned the court on the legality of sharing of the video clip that defamed her by the victim and her family. She stated that she is not satisfied with the court’s judgment on the dismissal of the assault charges against the victim and her son.
She said though she has the right to appeal to higher court within 10 days from the day of judgment, she stated that she was forced by the Dungkhag court’s Drangpon to pay the compensation to the victim on the same day of the judgment.
She also accused Namgay Zam, a freelance journalist, who is the Executive Director of the Journalist Association of Bhutan (JAB) for posting a biased story on social media and she also questioned the court on the legality of raising funds online.
Meanwhile, the high court during the opening statement said that they will review the law and not the facts. They will review the wrongful application of the law and wrongful interpretation of law.
Both the lowers courts sentenced Tshering Yangki to a concurrent prison term of 18 months and she was also ordered to pay more than Nu 260,000 as compensation to the victim.
The alleged battery initially took place on 26 April 2020 and the case was reported to the police on 27 April at around 8:30 pm.
The RBP said that according to some signed eyewitness accounts, the issue first started when alleged victim’s 18-year-old son and the alleged suspect had exchanged some words.
