A 22-year-old woman in Punjab’s Kapurthala district has filed a complaint against Christian pastor Bajinder Singh for sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation. The pastor is accused of starting to exploit the victim when she was a minor. Punjab Police has registered an FIR in the case on Friday (February 28).
Following the complaint, the city police station registered a case against him under sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 354 D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. SHO Bikramjit Singh confirmed the registration of the case.
Victim reveals shocking details
According to the victim, she had been attending Pastor Bajinder Singh’s congregation since December 2017 and was a part of his ‘worship team’ till the year 2020. During this time, the pastor started sending objectionable messages on her mobile number. The victim was just 17 years old at that time.
According to the FIR, the girl said- “I started getting scared of him, but was hesitant to tell my parents. In 2022, he started making me sit in his cabin on Sundays. When I was alone, he would forcibly hug me and touch me inappropriately, after which I started having panic attacks and suffered mental stress”.
The victim said that the pastor kept an eye on her every move and followed her in a car while going to college. When the victim protested, the pastor threatened her that if she did not obey him or tell anything to her parents, he would get her family killed.
The victim further stated that her marriage was fixed with another Christian preacher Raja Singh in March 2023, but even then Pastor Bajinder Singh continued to threaten her. He made the church president talk to her mother and threatened her to keep quiet.
Serious allegations have been made earlier also
This is not the first time that Pastor Bajinder Singh’s name has come up in a crime. In July 2018, he was arrested for raping a woman in Zirakpur, Punjab. Not only this, he has also gone to jail in a murder case before this.
Prior to hailing Jesus in Punjabi, Bajinder Singh born into a Jat family in Haryana’s Yamunanagar was lodged in jail in a murder case. Reportedly, it is during his time in prison that he came in contact with a pastor and got inclined towards Christianity. After his stint in jail for murder, Prophet Bajinder Singh Ministries as his followers call him fondly was once again arrested in 2018 for allegedly raping a woman from Zirakpur in Punjab.
Singh was picked up by the police at the Delhi airport when the self-styled Christian Godman was about to board a flight to London. The victim had alleged that Singh lured her in 2017 on the pretext of taking her abroad.
He then sexually assaulted her at his house in Chandigarh and made a video of the same which he then used to threaten her. Reports suggest that the victim had paid the accused pastor a sum of three lakh for promising her to be taken abroad.
In September 2022, a Delhi family had alleged that Bajinder took money from them for treating their daughter, who was suffering from cancer, through prayers but she could not be saved. The Income Tax Department too had conducted raids on his premises in April 2023. A native of Haryana, pastor Bajinder had converted to Christianity about 15 years ago while he was lodged in a jail in a murder case.
Pajinder Singh, a key player involved in the serious conversion racket in Punjab
Punjab, the holy land of Vedas and Sikh Gurus, has been witnessing a rapid conversion drive by Christian missionaries in the last few years. Poor and Dalit families are being targeted, especially in the border districts. Bajinder Singh runs a church called ‘Church of Glory and Wisdom’ and lures innocent people into Christianity by claiming himself to be a ‘miracle healer’. He conducts prayers in the name of ‘miracles’ and ‘curing diseases’ and then suggests people to convert to Christianity.
Over a period of time, his popularity increased so much that he now has over 3 million followers on YouTube and several centres overseas. including in Dubai, Mauritius and New Zealand.
In the last few years, the number of Christian missionaries has increased rapidly in Punjab. Their influence has increased especially in Malerkotla, Tarn Taran, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar. At many places, churches are being built near gurudwaras and big events are being organized there in the name of ‘miraculous meetings’. People from the deprived society are brought in large numbers to these events. Where they are being influenced on the basis of lies and deceit and converted to Christianity.
In Punjab, which is called the land of Sikh Gurus and saints, such activities can be fatal for the society. This incident is a proof of how Christian pastors are exploiting innocent people by misusing their power. Now it remains to be seen how strictly the Punjab police takes action in this matter.
