Trongsa Court yesterday, conducted an in camera witness hearing for the victims of the ongoing alleged student sexual harassment case of the College of Language and Culture Studies (CLCS) in Trongsa. In camera hearings are conducted to protect the privacy and identity of the victims and witnesses in court.
The court summoned nine girls yesterday out of the 74 witnesses and 21 victims in the case. For one of the victims who could not be present in the court on medical grounds, video conferencing was arranged.
Upon reaching the court, the eight girls were kept in separate rooms where nobody was allowed to see them. During the court proceedings, which was attended only by court officials and the defendants, the girls made their statements seated behind a temporary screen set up in the courtroom.
Media and spectators were barred from the courtroom.
The court said the victim’s statements were similar to the investigation charges of the prosecutor against the three accused former lecturers of the College. The court officials said that some of the victims were emotional and broke down a couple of times in the courtroom.
The first defendant is charged for having committed the offense of sexual harassment on different occasions and the second accused was charged for unwelcome acts of sexual nature through pinching, touching body and forcefully kissing the girls with Doma inside the mouth. The third defendant was accused of touching a girl inappropriately at the football ground.
This is the first in camera hearing conducted in Trongsa Court. According to the officials, the limited space in the courtrooms for litigants, lack of better facilities of screens and other resources, and distortion in the voices of litigants while video conferencing impeded the in camera court proceedings. However, they said they will conduct similar hearings for the rest of the victims and witnesses soon.
Meanwhile, the case came into limelight in May last year after ten lecturers were compulsorily retired by the management of the College following sexual harassment complaints submitted by 19 female students.
All allegations against seven lecturers were dropped following a police investigation. The seven lecturers had submitted a reinstatement application to the college on August 13, however, the College denied the reinstatement stating that the decision was taken for breaching the code of conduct.
On November 25 last year, the seven lecturers filed a separate case against the CLCS and Royal University of Bhutan. The case is pending for now.
Passang Tobgay
