New Delhi:
Self-styled preacher Pastor Bajinder Singh has been sentenced to life imprisonment in connection with a 2018 rape case by a court in Punjab’s Mohali. 42-year-old Singh, who became popular as the “Yeshu Yeshu prophet”, was lodged in the Patiala jail after he was convicted under Sections 376 (rape), 323 (punishment for voluntary causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The case was registered based on a complaint filed by a woman at Zirakpur police station in 2018. The complainant had alleged that Bajinder Singh lured her by promising to take her abroad. He raped her at his residence in Sector 63 in Mohali and made a video of it. She had alleged that the accused had threatened to post the video on social media if she did not agree to his demands.
Apart from Singh, five other accused in the case, namely Akhbar Bhatti, Rajesh Chaudhary, Jatinder Kumar, Sitar Ali and Sandeep Pehlwan, were acquitted.
Earlier this month, the Mohali Police had booked the pastor for assault and other charges, days after a video of him purportedly arguing and slapping a woman went viral on social media. In the video, which appeared to be CCTV footage of a room, said to be dated February 14, Singh was seen arguing and throwing a bunch of papers at the woman, before slapping her.
Singh also faces a probe in a sexual harassment case filed on February 28 filed by a 22-year-old woman, whose allegations he calls baseless. She claimed he started sending her inappropriate messages, summoned her alone to his cabin, and engaged in unwanted advances. Police have formed a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Superintendent of Police Rupinder Kaur, to probe the charges.
He became a preacher in 2012, and his congregations see large attendance with followers approaching to cure ailments through miracles. He runs The Church of Glory and Wisdom at Tajpur in Jalandhar, and another church at Majri in Mohali, but supporters claim his church has many branches in India and abroad.
On his YouTube channel “Prophet Bajinder Singh”, where his congregations are broadcast live, the preacher has garnered over 3.74 million subscribers.
