"Little Buddha" - Guru convicted of child abuse in Nepal - 10 years in prison
In Nepal, a self-proclaimed Guru, who allows his tens of thousands of followers to worship him as reborn Buddhas, has been sentenced to ten years in prison for child sexual abuse by the Sarlahi Court in the southern part of the country. The spokesperson of the news agency AFP confirmed the sentence handed down to the "Little Buddha" Ram Bahadur Bomjan on Monday. The 33-year-old must also pay a fine of 500,000 Rupiens (3,483 Euro).
The court had already found Bomjan guilty of child sexual abuse in the previous week. The sentence was now set against him.
Guru hid himself for years
Bomjan was arrested in January at the outskirts of Kathmandu. According to the police, the Guru had been hiding from the authorities for years before his arrest. Before his escape, he had been regularly attracting tens of thousands of people with his meditations in the jungle.
Bomjan had earned his reputation as "little Buddha" during his youth. According to his followers, he could meditate motionless for months without taking food, water, or sleep.
However, he later made headlines for negative reasons. For a long time, he has been accused of physically and sexually abusing his followers. Dozens of complaints were filed against him since 2010. Bomjan admitted to beating his victims because they disturbed him during meditation. An 18-year-old nun accused Bomjan of raping her in a monastery in 2018.
The police widened their investigation against him in 2019 after four of his followers went missing from an ashram, and their families informed the police.
Despite the conviction and imprisonment of Guru Ram Bahadur Bomjan for child sexual abuse in Nepal, some of his followers continue to believe in his rebirth as a reborn Buddha. Despite being on the run from authorities for years, Bomjan's arrest by the police near Kathmandu in January revealed his hiding place.
