Priest gets 10-year jail for sexually abusing  minor

HYDERABAD:  A city court on Thursday sentenced a priest who under the pretext of performing ‘shanti homam’ had sexually assaulted a 11-year-old girl at her residence in Bowenpally in 2014. The First Additional Metropolitan Sessions judge Suneetha Kunchala sentenced Ramji Maharaj to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 10 years and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000.

Inquiries revealed that Ramji after performing the ritual, asked the girl’s parents to feed the offerings to cow and when they went out, leaving their child with him, had sexually assaulted her. He even warned the girl that a curse will befall on her family if she revealed his acts to anybody.

In September 2014,  Ramji Maharaj approached the victim’s family under the pretext of performing pujas at the latter’s house at Hasmathpet in old Bowenpally.  On the first day he performed Satyanarayana puja at the house. A month later, he visited the house again and performed Shanti puja.  During his second visit, he interacted with the girl asking her to study well.  

Again a month later he visited them again for performing homam. The ritual  began around 10 am and completed by 12.30 pm. After completion of the ritual, he told the couple to go and feed the offerings to a cow at a nearby temple. The couple left the child with him at home and went to the temple. When they returned, they noticed Ramji Maharaj leaving their house in a hurry. Later, the girl told her mother that the priest touched her inappropriately.