News
Buddha Boy "thrashes" locals
26 July 2010 / Updated on 26 July 2010
He allegedly thrashed a group of 17 persons looking for wild fruits and vegetables with the handle of an axe after they reached the spot of penance breaching a security cordon.
“I took minor action against them after taking them under control when they came to disrupt my meditation. I let them go after they apologized,” President of the Namo Buddha Tapoban Management Committee Bed Bahadur Theeng quoted Bamjan as saying.
The locals were taken under control at around 2 pm on Thursday and released on Friday noon. The committee has installed a barbed wire fence around the place of penance.
Locals said Bamjan thrashed them inside a house near the area of penance.
The committee, however, claimed that the action was taken as the locals had made a well-planned attempt to disrupt the penance.
“He (Bamjan) had taken action against miscreants even in the past,” Thing said and urged people not to disturb a man on a peaceful penance. “The locals deserved action as they reached the spot, where even we are forbidden, on bicycles and smoked cigarettes,” he argued.
The thrashed locals have lodged a formal complaint with the police Saturday morning. “The villagers have demanded action against Bamjan. We have initiated investigation,” said in-charge at a local police post Bhishma Kumar Lamsal.
On July 26 "Buddha boy" Ram Bahadur Bamjan has claimed that he has done nothing wrong in beating up the locals of Manaharwa on Thursday for trying to disrupt his penance and declared that he won't go to court for hearing.
“Does a tapaswee (meditating sage) go to courts?” Bamjan asked reporters at an interaction with the media after the police took his statement in Halkhoriya forest, Bara, where he is meditating, on Sunday evening.
“I abide by the law, but only the right ones. There are wrong laws too. I have done no wrong,” he insisted and added, “They disturbed me while I was meditating... tried to manhandle me. I was therefore forced to beat up them.”
A group of 17 persons had lodged a formal complaint against Bamjan on Saturday morning claiming that he took them under control on Thursday when they reached the spot while looking for wild fruits and vegetables and thrashed them with an axe handle for around 22 hours before releasing them on Friday afternoon.
He also denied that he beat up them in a room as claimed by the locals. “I beat up them with my hands and not with an axe handle. The locals have lied. I have just slapped them two-three times,” he claimed.
He, however, couldn't elaborate on how a man sustained head injury with slaps. “I tolerated when they smoked cigarettes and made noise but they climbed on the platform where I was meditating and tried to imitate me. I slapped them after they crossed all the limits,” he said.
He said the group didn't retaliate against him and hinted that he would have used his divine powers if the locals had retaliated. “I would also have done something had they retaliated. It (divine power) could have been used had the situation arose,” he said when asked what he would have done in case of retaliation and if he had divine powers.
He also refuted the accusations that he thrashed the locals even after they apologized. “They didn’t apologize in the beginning. They started to join their hands in apology only after I started slapping them,” he claimed.
He had started six-years of penance on May 16, 2005, and has just 10 months remaining to complete his mission. He reiterated his claim that he has eaten nothing in the period.
“I have not eaten up to now. I don't know what will transpire in the future,” he said. On future plan after completing the six-year meditation, he said: “I will share the knowledge that I have gained in this period with the world.”
Despite conceding to have beaten the locals he claimed he didn't do so in anger. “I never get angry. I do everything with a smile. There weren’t any of my associates around and I was forced to punish them,” he reasoned. “I wouldn’t have talked to you [journalists] if I were angry,” he added.
He also refuted allegations that he slammed the locals for animal sacrifice during the Gadhimai Festival in November while beating up them. “There was no mention of Gadhimai in this incident,” he said. He had promised to stop the animal sacrifice at the festival, but did not turn up in the end averting possible confrontation.
He, however, claimed that he achieved some success in stopping the sacrifice. “I stopped it. Just 20,000 animals were sacrificed this time while it used to be hundreds of thousands. I was not completely successful due to non-cooperation of others,” he argued.
Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action...
Photo:
Controversy around Nepali men at Buddha Boy's meditation site
Photo: 4
19 September 2010
