India: temple priest sentenced to 25 years for assaulting a boy who had come to the temple as a devotee

Proceedings

1. 2025-07-23 · conviction and sentence

   Special Fast Track Court, Sirsa, Haryana, India (Additional Sessions Judge Dr Naresh Kumar Singhal). Raman Giri, priest at the Sherawali Mata temple in Ding village, Sirsa, was convicted of the sexual assault of a minor boy who visited the temple on 1 April 2020 and was taken by him into a secluded room. He was sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment under section 4 of the POCSO Act with a ₹50,000 fine, 2 years under section 506 IPC (criminal intimidation) with a ₹2,000 fine, and 3 years under section 67-B of the IT Act with a ₹25,000 fine — 25 years' rigorous imprisonment in total with fines of ₹77,000. The priest had threatened the boy with dire consequences if he disclosed what had happened.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• access as the temple's presiding priest to a boy who had come there to worship
• threats of dire consequences to prevent disclosure