A preacher received the death penalty for four sexual assaults on minor girls
Abraham was arrested under the Pocso Act in 2022. The trial later gained momentum after the Tirunelveli police introduced a ‘case officer’ scheme in 2026 to expedite pending Pocso cases by assigning each to a designated team. Abraham had threatened the children with harm if they revealed the assaults to anyone, police said.
Police said Abraham had taken the girls to isolated places on the pretext of teaching them Bible and music. “The assaults allegedly began during Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and continued until the eight-year-old revealed the abuse in 2022,” said Tirunelveli SP Vishwesh Balasubramaniam Shastri. Police said the case was brought to conviction within six months, with its progress reviewed weekly.
The case was assigned to a team headed by additional superintendent of police K Shanmugham.
MADURAI: The Tirunelveli special court for Pocso cases on Thursday sentenced a 47-year-old preacher to death for each of four sexual assaults committed against four minor girls over nearly two years in the district. The abuse came to light in 2022 after an eight-year-old girl from Thevarkulam complained of pain in her private parts. The girls, aged between 11 and 12, were relatives of the first complainant.
After the disclosure, three other girls from the same extended family told their mothers that Abraham had also sexually assaulted them. The four girls, their parents and other witnesses testified during the trial,” said Usha. The court also ordered compensation of Rs10 lakh to each victim. Her mother took her to a hospital, where she learned that the child had been sexually assaulted. The team and special public prosecutor P Usha also assisted the witnesses ahead of their testimony and cross-examination. “Medical evidence collected during the investigation by officer Radha was among the evidence relied upon by the prosecution to establish penetrative sexual assault. Judge Suresh Kumar found Abraham guilty and awarded the death penalty on each of the four counts.