Paro police has completed investigating the battery and libel case involving three women. The case will be forwarded to the court soon.

The court granted the women bail on February 25 after being detained for 12 days.

The police arrested the women aged 36, 31, and 29 on February 13, a week after the incident at one of the resorts in Paro where the victim works. This was after the video of a woman slapping and abusing another woman went viral on WeChat and Facebook last month.

The resort owner along with the victim filed the complaint on February 12.

A police official said that initially the women were charged for battery and libel. He said that while the woman who slapped the resort employee was charged for battery and libel, the other two who filmed the video and who was witnessing the abuse were charged for aiding and abetting battery. The one who filmed the video was also charged for libel.

Section 158 of the Penal Code of Bhutan states that a defendant shall be guilty of the offence of battery if the defendant purposely uses physical force of an adverse nature on another person while according to section 320, a defendant is guilty of the offence of libel if he or she defames another person through the means of writing, drawing, or photographing.

It states that the offence of battery shall be a petty misdemeanor, or a misdemeanour if aggravated circumstances are present.

Section 125 states that a defendant shall be guilty of the offence of aiding and abetting a crime if the defendant engages in a conduct designed to accommodate or help another person in the commission of a crime.

Unless otherwise indicated in the Penal Code, the defendant who is guilty of the offence of aiding and abetting will be liable to fourth degree felony, if the offence is of first, second and third degree felony; or half the penalty awarded to the person who has committed the crime, if the offence is of fourth-degree felony, misdemeanour or petty misdemeanour, it states.

Dechen Tshomo