Penjore, a private individual submitted his rebuttal in the ongoing defamation case against him. The case is in the Thimphu District Court. The Police charged him for allegedly defaming the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on social media.
In his rebuttal statement today, he said he shared a news article of the BBS aired on May 4 this year in public interest. he said he did not make any changes and therefore, that he is not guilty.
The news was about twelve former Bhutan National Bank employees who were sentenced to a year in prison for forgery.
According to the charges submitted by the Police to the court, Penjore through his Facebook account called the incident a “Shocking Bigger Crime.”
He wrote, “Shocking Bigger Crime at the Bhutan’s OAG Level- A guilty Secret Cheating Case through Collusion- A National Shame”, “DANGEROUS and greater corruption happening in the OAG” and “Bhutan completely into NoW converting Bhutan as a complete lawless Country in the eyes of the World……Monstrous Wrongdoing of OAG is not corrected immediately.”
As per the charges, due to the false statement he posted on social media, people will defame the OAG and there was now a risk that it will obstruct the people’s trust in the institution. The charges further stated that Penjore should allegedly pay a minimum national wage of at least a year to a maximum of three years to the OAG.
Penjore claimed that all of what he had written was all mentioned in the news article and therefore, he was not guilty.
According to Penjore, he was arrested and detained for 16 days in May this year after the OAG pursued legal action against him for the alleged incident. The case which was registered as a sedition case was dismissed by the district court.
The OAG then forwarded a defamation case against Penjore to the Police since it is a petty misdemeanour. The case was registered with the Thimphu District court on November 9.
During his rebuttal today, he submitted that he should get compensation for the arrest and detention.
The next hearing will be held on Monday next week.
Tshering Zam
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
