One held for sexual assault and recording

SNS, Gangtok, 26 December 2013: In probably one of the first of its kind in Sikkim, a person was picked up by police on Wednesday morning for making recordings of a sexual act, apart from sexual assault as well.

Dup Tshering Bhutia was arrested by the Sadar police after a woman, in her twenties, lodged a complaint against him for sexual assault after getting her drunk.

The accused is a 49-year-old from Phodong. The two, it is reported, met through a common friend on 18 December and the woman was on the lookout for a place to stay in Gangtok. Dup Tshering chipped in with an offer of help on the matter.

Later, they went to a hotel in Deorali where the accused allegedly got the woman drunk and assaulted her sexually. The following morning, the woman came to know that the accused had also made lewd recording of the night. Sensing that this could be used to blackmail her she lodged a complaint with police.

The accused was arrested under rape charges as well as under Section 67A IT Act which deals with the transmitting of sexually explicit materials in electronic form. He was remanded in police custody, it is learnt.