Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck graced the inauguration of the Family and Child Bench at the Thimphu District Court, yesterday.
The separate Family and Child Bench at the court is equipped with modern facilities like video communication system to conduct the proceedings. The system will allow a child to identity and recognise the accused, without having to meet them personally. The judges will also question the children through the system unless required to meet personally to prevent intimidation.
The bench is the first of its kind in the country’s judicial history.
“Before, it takes time to resolve family and child related cases, since the cases were dealt together with other cases,” said the Registrar General of the Supreme Court, Tshering Dorji. “So this bench will help resolve the cases faster as the bench will deal only with the family and child related cases.”
The bench has been established in line with the Convention on the Rights of Children and Childcare and Protection Act of Bhutan. The act requires the court to provide right care and protection to children who are either victims or come in conflict with law.
Although the specialised bench was functional since November last year, it has been recently furnished with modern amenities with financial support from Save the Children, Italy.
