KATHMANDU, JULY 1Sarlahi District Court today sentenced Ram Bahadur Bomjon, known as the Buddha Boy, to ten years in prison for raping a minor. Nepalese spiritual leader 'Buddha Boy' convicted of sexual assault on minor Sarlahi District Court convicts Bomjon On June 24, a bench led by Judge Jeevan Kumar Bhandari found Bomjon guilty of sexually abusing minors.

Today, it sentenced Bomjon to ten years in prison and ordered him to pay the victim Rs 500,000.Two other defendants, Gyan Bahadur and Dig Bahadur, were acquitted in the case.

Ganga Maya had filed a complaint with Sarlahi District Court, alleging that Bomjon raped her when she was a minor. Prior to this, Bomjon was arrested in Budhanilkantha on January 9.

Bomjon had been hiding since February 6, 2020, when the District Court of Sarlahi issued an arrest warrant against him in response to a police request.

In July 2020, he was charged with sexual abuse in the District Court of Sarlahi.The District Attorney's Office in Sarlahi demanded 12-15 years in prison for Bomjon and his two aides for their alleged involvement in the sexual exploitation of the minor.Five separate police complaints were filed in various districts alleging that family members had vanished from Bomjon's ashram after Setopati published a news report titled 'Series of sexual exploitation and violence in Bomjon's ashrams' on December 26, 2018, detailing how four people were missing from his ashram.Mahendra Waiwa of Makawanpur filed a police complaint re-ashram was missing.

Similarly, Hasta Bahadur Ale Magar of Bara was in search of his son.

Bijaya Rumba of Makawanpur was searching for her elder sister; and Ganga Maya Tamang of Nuwakot was in search of her younger sister.

Waiwa of Hetauda sub-metropolitan city lodged a police complaint, claiming his father, Sancha Lal, had been missing from Bomjon's ashram for four years.Waiwa's father called from Bomjon's ashram in Badegaun, Sindhupalchowk, on March 28, 2015, stating that he would return home after three days.

He filed a police report as his father did not return home even after ten days.

He returned to the ashram two days later, only to learn that his father had already left.

He stated in the complaint that, despite years of searching, his father had not been found.Sumni Bot of Kajiram tole in Bagmati municipality also filed a police report, claiming that her daughter Rita had gone missing from Bomjon's Halkhoriya ashram.In 2005, Ram Bahadur Bomjon, who was meditating under a large peepal tree in a remote forest in Bara, Madhya Tarai, unexpectedly became the center of attention.Bomjon, then 16, began meditating in the forest.

However, his name became associated with a number of controversies over time.According to the police, a complaint was filed against Bomjon related to four missing cases, the killing of one, and the sexual assault of a follower.Five years ago, the police began investigating complaints filed in various district police offices alleging that some 'followers' had gone to his ashram in Sindhupalchowk and had not returned.

Along with that, the Ashram in Badegaon, Sindhupalchowk, was sealed, and an investigation began. .

This article first appeared/also appeared in https://thehimalayantimes.com