Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Hindu and Hindu-derived contexts Delhi, India · 2013

India: temple priest's conviction for raping an intellectually disabled devotee upheld — 'satanic and unholy'

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

temple priest

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

A cognitively disabled devotee inside the temple where her trust was placed — the High Court's own language locates the betrayal in the sanctity of the office.

  • Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2013-01-30 · conviction (2013); appeal dismissed (2026)

    Delhi sessions court; Delhi High Court (Santosh Tiwari v. State, CRL.A. 335/2013). Santosh Tiwari, a Delhi temple priest, raped an intellectually disabled woman of about thirty (IQ 60, certified mild mental retardation) in the temple's residential premises on 4 February 2010; the FIR came forty days later, after he broke a promise to stay away. Convicted on 30 January 2013 and sentenced the next day, his appeal was dismissed by the Delhi High Court on 29 May 2026 (Justice Vimal Kumar Yadav), which called the act 'satanic and unholy', upheld conviction and sentence, and ordered him to surrender.

Appellate history

  1. 2026-05-29 · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • victim's intellectual disability (IQ 60) and her family's resort to the temple for spiritual guidance
  • assault within the temple's residential premises

Primary record

Sources

official court judgment appellate judgment Santosh Tiwari v. State (NCT of Delhi), CRL.A. 335/2013, Delhi High Court, decided 29 May 2026 (judgment PDF).

The appellate judgment itself.

legal news court reporting appellate judgment report LiveLaw report, 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 652.

Legal-news report of the judgment.

Related record

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