Kailali District Court on Friday sentenced a man to five years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 100,000 for torturing a woman on the charge of ‘practicing witchcraft’.

A single bench of district Judge Parshuram Bhattarai issued the verdict against Ram Bahadur Chaudhary aka Bhole Baba.

Likewise, Ram Bahadur’s accomplice Kismati Chaudhary has been sentenced to one year in prison and slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 and another accomplice Smarika Chaudhary has been sentenced to six months in prison and slapped a fine Rs 25, 000.

Meanwhile, the district court gave clean chit to other accused in the case including Bed Prasad Chaudhary, Chankala Chaudhary and Sitarani Chaudhary.

Ram Bahadura, a self-proclaimed shaman, two of his aides, Kismati and Smarika along with Bed Prasad Chaudhary, Chankala Chaudhary and Sitarani Chaudhary had tortured Radha Chaudhary of Devkaliya, Ghodaghodi Municipality-5, Kailali, for over six hours accusing her of practicing witchcraft on the day when the country was observing the International Women’s Day.