The Sarlahi District Court on Monday sentenced Ram Bahadur Bomjan, a controversial ‘spiritual leader’, to 10 years in jail for child sex abuse.

A single bench of Judge Jeevan Kumar Bhandari announced the jail term and also slapped a Rs500,000 fine for Bomjan, the court’s registrar Sadan Adhikari told the Post.

The bench on June 24 convicted Bomjan and scheduled a hearing for Monday to determine the punishment.

The court acquitted Bomjan’s two aides, Jit Bahadur Tamang and Gyan Bahadur Bomjan, in the same case.

Bomjan, who was dubbed ‘Buddha Boy’ by some international media, is under judicial custody at Jaleshwar jail. On January 11, a bench of Judge Bishnu Prasad Regmi had sent him to judicial custody.

A team from the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police on January 9 arrested Bomjan from a house in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu.

Bomjan had been in hiding since the District Court, Sarlahi, on February 6, 2020, issued an arrest warrant against him as per a police request. In July 2020, a case of sexual abuse was filed against him in the District Court, Sarlahi.

In the chargesheet, the District Attorney Office, Sarlahi, had demanded 12–15 years of prison for Bomjan and his two aides for their alleged involvement in the sexual exploitation of the minor.

The chargesheet accuses Bomjan, the prime suspect, of raping a 15-year-old girl who was staying in his ashram (hermitage) at Pattharkot, Sarlahi, as an Ani (nun).

Police in the chargesheet accused Bomjan of raping the minor by luring her to his private quarters at 9:20pm on August 4, 2016.

He has further been charged with threatening the girl with consequences if she disclosed the incident to others.

On February 23, 2020, after the victim turned 18, a complaint against him was registered at the District Police Office in Sarlahi.

On June 18, 2020, a team from the CIB raided his ashram in ward 8 of Kamalamai Municipality in Sindhuli district but he was not found there. Police suspected he might have fled the place.

Five families have filed complaints against him in different police offices, accusing him of murder, disappearance and sexual exploitation of his followers. The accusations regarding the disappearances of his followers are still awaiting trial.

Bomjan shot to fame in 2005 after reportedly meditating for months without food, water, or sleep, leading the media to dub him the ‘Buddha Boy’. After emerging from his meditation, he and his followers set up ashrams in Bara, Sarlahi, Sindhupalchok and Sindhuli districts, where the abuses took place, the police said.