India: temple priest sentenced to 178 years for sexually assaulting three children
Request a correction or replyRecord class
Core record
Evidence status
Convicted
Authority role
temple priest
Organization
No organization assigned
Archive classification
This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.
The defendant's standing as the temple's priest is what gave him the trusted presence and access to children at the temple precinct that the offences relied on.
- Pastoral or clerical authority
- Other spiritual authority or belief
Evidence structure
Proceedings
2026-03-31 · conviction and sentence
POCSO Court, Sivaganga, Tamil Nadu, India. A. Thilagar, a 70-year-old temple priest, was convicted of sexually assaulting three children whom he lured with sweets near the temple, and was sentenced to 178 years' imprisonment.
Documented coercion mechanisms
- standing and access as priest of the temple where the children were present
Cited record
Sources
- national news agency verdict and sentencing report 'POCSO Court in TN awards 178 yr jail term for 70-year-old temple priest', UNI India, 31 Mar. 2026.
Indian news agency reporting the POCSO court conviction and the sentence imposed.
Source provenance
Source access and integrity log
This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.
- Source and tier basis
- https://www.uniindia.com/~/pocso-court-in-tn-awards-178-yr-jail-term-for-70-year-old-temple-priest-in-children-sexual-assault-case/States/news/3793688.html Corpus classification: national-news-agency; evidentiary role: verdict-and-sentencing-report. SHA-256 2354d0d7e293d7cd45529051173d86d31c397850ac39345c20c00ce5249a22fd
- Retrieval
- 2026-07-20 · Preserved
- Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
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Related record
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