Conviction Christian institutions & contexts Other or denomination not established Vadakkankulam, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India · 2026

India: Tamil Nadu church priest sentenced under POCSO for assaulting a seven-year-old visitor

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Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

priest of a church at Vadakkankulam

Organization

No organization assigned

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

A small child at her family's church, within reach of its priest because that is what the visit was for.

Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2026-06-11 · conviction and sentence

District POCSO special court, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. Selvaraj, 59, priest of a church at Vadakkankulam, sexually harassed a seven-year-old girl who visited the church with her parents for prayers in February 2020. On 11 June 2026 the Tirunelveli district POCSO special court (Judge Suresh Kumar) sentenced him to seven years plus a fine and ₹1 lakh victim compensation, on a case registered by the Valliyoor All-Women Police under POCSO.

Documented coercion mechanisms

priest's standing over a child brought to the church by her parents for prayers

Cited record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting verdict and sentencing report 'Court Sends Church Priest To Seven Years In Jail', ETV Bharat, 12 Jun. 2026 (credited repost).: Court report of the conviction and sentence.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

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Source and tier basis: https://www.bishop-accountability.org/2026/06/court-sends-church-priest-to-seven-years-in-jail-for-sexual-harassment-of-minor-girl-in-tamil-nadu/ Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-report. SHA-256 5f92dafa4d26510e99ae0999362414c186b821070caa57d262b2f2520cab584c
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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