The defence lawyer and prosecutor of the molestation case in Gelephu appealed against the judgment the drungkhag court rendered on January 14.

The Gelephu drungkhag court sentenced a schoolteacher, Bharat Sanyasi, to 28 years and six months in prison for molesting six girls, aged between 12 and 17 years, of a remote school in Gelephu in 2017 but gave him a concurrent sentencing of four years and six months in prison. The sentence is non-compoundable.

While the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has decided to appeal against the judgment, they are yet to submit the grounds of the appeal.

The defence lawyer, in its appeal letter dated January 18, stated that the defendant was sentenced although there was no concrete evidence.

It stated that the judgement was based on statements, which were not evidence at all.

The second ground of appeal was that the court had accepted the victims like witnesses and used their statements to convict the defendant.

The third ground of appeal, according to the defence lawyer, was against the cross-examination, which he alleged was not done properly by the court and the prosecutor. It stated that the statements of the victims were taken a day after the examination by the court.

The OAG prosecutor said he would submit the grounds of appeal to the court soon.

Tashi Dema