Conviction Hindu and Hindu-derived contexts Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India · 2026

India: temple priest convicted of abusing a girl after claiming she was possessed

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

temple priest engaged to perform a pooja

Organization

Kannammoola Balasubramanya Temple

Spiritual nexus

The child was brought to the priest specifically for a religious ritual, and he manufactured a claim of possession to justify continued private access to her — the ritual authority itself was the instrument of the abuse.

Exorcism or deliverance
Spiritual healing or treatment
Pastoral or clerical authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2026-02-26 · conviction (sentencing pending at time of reporting)

POCSO District Court, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Bineesh, a temple priest engaged by a mother to perform a pooja for her daughter's exam anxiety, was found guilty of falsely claiming the child was possessed and then repeatedly sexually assaulting her in the temple's pooja room.

Documented coercion mechanisms

false claim that the child was possessed
ritual authority over a pooja the mother had requested

Primary record

Sources

reliable contemporaneous court reporting verdict report 'Former temple priest found guilty of sexually abusing minor who sought pooja for exam anxiety', Onmanorama, 26 Feb. 2026.: Reports the POCSO court verdict and the possession claim used to obtain repeated private access to the child.

Related record

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