The Monggar District Court sentenced 16 men from Ngatshang Gewog and eight women from Saling Gewog in Monggar to six months in prison for breaching the COVID-19 protocols during the second nationwide lockdown. While the men were convicted for playing archery in Ngatshang Gewog, the women were sentenced for playing khuru during the Nyilo on January 2.
Earlier in January when the nation was under complete lockdown, the Monggar Dzongkhag COVID-19 control room received an anonymous call about people playing archery in Ngatshang, the Dzongda who is also the Incident Commander of the Dzongkhag COVID-19 Taskforce directed the Gewog COVID-19 Taskforce of Ngatshang to investigate the case.
The gewog taskforce was also asked to file the report of action taken to the Dzongkhag COVID-19 Taskforce.
The Gewog COVID-19 Taskforce found three groups playing archery. The gewog taskforce found that two groups of people involving ten individuals played archery in two different locations of Ngatshang chiwog while another group with six players played archery in Pelshoop chiwog. The archers admitted to breaching the lockdown protocol. The task force also submitted a detail investigation report to the Dzongkhag COVID 19 taskforce on January 5.
Similarly, the court also convicted eight women from Thridangbi in Saling Gewog for breaching the COVID-19 protocols by playing khuru during the Nyilo. The court convicted them for Breaching of Public Order and Tranquility (section 448) of the Penal Code of Bhutan.
All the perpetrators can pay in lieu of the prison term. They can also appeal to the high court within ten days if they are unhappy with the judgment of the district court.
Sonam Tshering
