BADUNG, Bali — A homeowner in Berawa, Bali, has held a Caru Eka Sata ceremony after his property became the site of an alleged sexual act involving a foreign couple, an incident that was captured on CCTV and later went viral on social media.

The ceremony was held on Wednesday, August 26, at the house in Tibubeneng, North Kuta, Badung, where the incident took place.

For the homeowner, the ceremony was a way to spiritually cleanse the property after what happened there.

Caru Eka Sata is a Balinese Hindu purification ritual performed to restore spiritual balance after an event believed to have disturbed the harmony of a place. In this case, the ceremony was held at the property where the alleged sexual act took place.

The ritual is part of the niskala side of Balinese Hindu life — the spiritual dimension that exists alongside the physical world.

The homeowner, I Wayan Suyadnya, said he hoped the ceremony would help put the incident behind them and that nothing similar would happen again, either at his property or elsewhere in North Kuta.

Read Also: Australian Man Arrested at Bali Airport Over Berawa Sex Case

From Viral Footage to an Arrest

The incident took place at a property on Jalan Pantai Berawa, Gang Family, Tibubeneng.

CCTV footage showed a man and a woman believed to be foreign nationals engaging in a sexual act at the property. The footage later spread widely on social media, prompting Badung Police to investigate.

Police subsequently identified the man as BA, 27, an Australian national, and arrested him at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on Tuesday, August 25, shortly before he was due to leave Bali.

BA remains under questioning as investigators continue to examine the case.

Police are also still trying to locate the woman who was with him.

Read Also: Again in Bali: Couple Allegedly Caught Having Sex at Berawa Home

Why the Ceremony Matters

For someone unfamiliar with Balinese Hindu traditions, a purification ceremony following an incident like this may seem unusual.

The ceremony was held as a form of niskala, or spiritual, cleansing of the property after the alleged sexual act took place there.

Caru Eka Sata is a Balinese Hindu ritual associated with purification, spiritual balance and harmony. It is part of Bhuta Yadnya, a category of Hindu offerings and rituals in Bali.

In this case, the homeowner specifically held the ceremony to cleanse the property spiritually after what he described as an incident that had disturbed the sanctity of the grounds.

The ceremony is separate from the police investigation and does not determine whether anyone has committed a criminal offence. Those questions remain with law enforcement.

BA, the 27-year-old Australian man arrested in connection with the incident, remains under investigation, while police are still trying to locate the woman who was with him.

For the homeowner, however, the incident did not end when the couple left the property or when the CCTV footage went viral.

The ceremony was his way of restoring a sense of spiritual balance to the property and putting an unsettling incident behind his family.