The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has forwarded the case involving a man who set his ex-wife on fire to the Thimphu District Court last Friday.
The OAG has charged the 35-year-old man with murder. The alleged murder took place at the Centenary Children’s Park in Thimphu in September.
According to the OAG’s charge sheet, the accused had used petrol to set the victim on fire, which caused her death, after she refused to go to Paro with him.
The victim and the accused were divorced and were living separately at the time of the incident. They have a daughter who was living with the accused. The OAG said the accused committed the crime intentionally. It said he came to Thimphu from Paro to reach their daughter with an ill intention.
But the accused denies the charge. In his statement, he stated that the deceased came to the park with a black plastic bag, which contained petrol, and threatened him of burning herself and reporting false information to the police.
The accused claimed that the victim poured petrol over her body when their daughter refused to go with her. He stated that her body caught fire accidentally as she was lighting a beedi.
But the OAG says the victim had told police before her death that it was her ex-husband who set her on fire after she refused to accompany him to Paro. The OAG said there were also people who witnessed the incident.
The deceased had suffered second degree burn and died the next day. The OAG pleaded with the court to award life imprisonment to the accused. The OAG also requested the court to make the accused pay a compensation of over Nu 500,000.
