The Janakpur High Court has acquitted controversial spiritual leader Ram Bahadur Bomjan in a child sexual abuse case, citing the expiry of the statute of limitations.

The high court overturned the verdict of the Sarlahi District that had on July 1, 2024 convicted Bomjan of sexual abuse.

In its verdict, a division bench of justices Khemraj Bhatta and Narishwar Bhandari of the high court concluded that the legal proceedings of the district court was faulty arguing that the case against Bomjan had been filed after expiry of the statute of the limit.

The high court’s full text released on Wednesday stated that the 10-year prison sentence and Rs500,000 fine imposed by the Sarlahi District Court on July 1, 2024, could not be enforced.

The court stated that the case should have been filed latest by February 1, 2017 to be valid in accordance with the statute of the limit whereas it was filed on February 5, 2017.

Bomjan is accused of sexually abusing ten children, offences allegedly committed during their stay at one of his ashrams. The initial conviction was based on the Children’s Act, 2018, but the High Court held that the act could not be retroactively applied in this case, and that the complaint was filed after the legal deadline had passed.

The full text of the March 19 verdict clarified that the court did not enter into the merits of the charges but quashed the sentence on procedural grounds.

Now the applicants can move the Supreme Court against the high court verdict.

Bomjan, who rose to international limelight in 2005 after claims of meditating for months without food or water, had long been under investigation for various allegations, including sexual exploitation and the disappearances of four of his disciples.

He had been on the run for several years before being arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau in Kathmandu on January 9, 2024.

He was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at his Pattharkot ashram in Sarlahi in August 2016 and threatening her to remain silent.