The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is charging the 46-year-old Boomdeling Gup in Trashi Yangtse for allegedly raping a 16-year-old girl. The OAG forwarded the case to the District Court on Tuesday.
The OAG has also informed the Department of Local Government, Election Commission of Bhutan and the Tashi Yangtse Dzongkhag Administration about the case.
According to the investigation report, the accused came to know about the absence of the victim’s parents while he called to get the identity card number and account number of the victim’s father. The victim’s father is a Chiwog Tshogpa of one of the chiwogs in the gewog. After knowing the absence of the victim’s parents, the accused frequently called the victim and bought a new mobile phone at the cost of more than Nu 10,000. The accused allegedly went to the victim’s house to hand over the mobile phone to the victim at night, earlier this month and had a physical relationship on the same night.
The victim’s parents were away for cordyceps collection during the time of the incident. But the grandfather, who was living with the victim, informed the victim’s father about the visit of the accused during their absence.
As per the investigation report, the accused have confessed to the crime which was further confirmed from the medical report of the victim. The accused was elected as a Gup in 2016 during the second Local Government Election and a father of five.
The OAG is charging the accused for rape of a child above twelve years of age which is a second-degree felony having a minimum prison term of nine years and the maximum prison term of fifteen years.
However, the OAG is requesting the court to sentence the accused with the maximum prison term based on the aggravating circumstances as the accused being a responsible person, incurring a loss to the state, breaching the trust of the people and also showing disrespect to the law of land. OAG further requests the court to direct the accused to pay compensation to the victim. The accused is under police custody.
