The Kathmandu District Court on Monday handed Judge Bhuwan Giri a seven-year prison sentence in a rape case.

A single bench of District Court Judge Durga Bahadur Bhusal, who had convicted Giri on May 27, pronounced the jail term and a fine of Rs300,000, said Ramu Sharma, registrar at the court.

In November last year, Giri’s wife Aarati Rawal had lodged a complaint at the District Police Office, accusing the former Judge of domestic violence and sexual exploitation, but the police refused to register her complaint.

Soon after that Giri had also filed a complaint against his wife at the District Police Office accusing her of stealing money.

Following the police’s refusal to register her complaint, Giri’s wife went to Kathmandu and spoke to various media outlets. On February 15, 2023, Giri’s wife staged a demonstration outside the federal parliament building at New Baneshwar. She and two other women were arrested for protesting.

She had filed a complaint at the National Human Rights Commission and the National Women’s Commission, seeking action against her husband. She also filed another complaint at the Judicial Council.

On April 3 last year, a division bench of Supreme Court justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Til Prasad Shrestha invalidated the rulings of Kathmandu District Court and Patan High Court and ordered that Giri be sent to judicial custody.

The Kapilvastu District Court then issued an arrest warrant against the former Judge who was taken into police custody from Pabitranagar in Gongabu, Kathmandu on April 11, 2023 and sent to Bhairahawa for further investigation.

However, Rawal started a fast-unto-death claiming that no action had been taken despite the apex court’s order following which Giri surrendered to the Kathmandu District Court on April 15, 2024.