The Bumthang District Court sentenced a 26-year-old man to 15 years in prison for larceny. The man stole a Golden Scripture (Gaytongpa Lekbam) from his ancestral home in Kharsa village of Chhoekhor Gewog in 2020. The judgment was passed this afternoon. Three other men were also implicated in the crime.
According to the judgment read out through a video conference from the courtroom, the man along with a friend stole the scripture that belonged to his mother, in mid of 2020. They tried to sell it to two supposed middlemen in Wangdue Phodrang. They did not succeed in the first attempt.
After a few weeks, they tried to sell it again but were intercepted after the mother alerted police when she found the text missing from her alter. She noticed it while trying to fetch it for reading at an annual community ritual. It was seized from one of the middleman’s sister’s home in Thimphu and was returned to the owner.
During the trial, the man argued that the scripture is his family’s inheritance, given to him by his mother as a patrimony and claimed absolute right over it. However, the court didn’t find any documents to support his claim. Moreover, he lived separately with his wife and children in Chamkhar.
His friend is charged for failing to report the crime. He has to pay a penalty of 90 days’ daily minimum wage.
The middleman who took the valuable to his sister’s home is convicted for solicitation of crime and possession of the stolen property. He is given a prison term of seven and half years.
The other middleman is charged for lending Nu 50,000 to the primary convict after the scripture was kept as a mortgage. He is also slapped a penalty of 90 days’ daily minimum wage for not reporting the crime.
Three others who were involved in the crime have been acquitted.
Kipchu, Bumthang
