The Bumthang District Court sentenced a man in his late twenties to a concurrent prison term of two years and three months for loitering around Bumthang town after 7 pm and harassing a family.
The incident took place on the outskirts of Chamkhar town on May 3 at Gongkhar. The man was found drunk at around 10:50 pm strolling around a family home and harassing the members. The man who is from Dagana is a third-time offender and was previously convicted for trespass and harassment.
He was handed down an 11-month prison term for breach of public order and tranquility and the two-year-three-month sentence for harassing the family. He will have to serve the non-compoundable sentences, concurrently.
Meanwhile, the court has acquitted a shopkeeper and two other men who were found drinking alcohol after 7 pm in another incident that happened three days later at Jambay Lhakhang area. Police charged the men who are all from Bumthang for Breach of Public Order And Tranquility. However, upon verification, the court found out that the pictures taken by police of the accused having alcohol was in the shopkeeper’s kitchen and not in a bar and the drinks were bought from a bar and not from the shop according to the judgment. The trio has been cleared of the charges, as proof beyond a reasonable doubt could not be established.
Since the government imposed restrictions to minimize the risk of community transmission of COVID-19 in April, so far, seven men and a woman have been sentenced to compoundable prison terms of 11 months in Bumthang.
Kipchu
