After the Tuesday verdict, all eyes are on the second sexual harassment case filed against Bajinder on February 28 this year.
The victim said she and her family have heaved a sigh of relief now that Bajinder is completely exposed.
“The justice has been delivered in only one case. With this judgement, more victims would come forward to tell their ordeals on the hand of the convicted pastor, who used money and muscle power to muzzle their voices,” she said.
She added she would also take her case to a logical conclusion even though she and her family were getting constant threats.
Based on a complaint by a 22-year-old woman, Kapurthala police registered an FIR on February 28 against Bajinder under Sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Kapurthala city police station. The case is being probed by a three-member SIT under the supervision of Phagwara superintendent of police (SP) Rupinder Kaur Bhatti, with Kapurthala DSP and Kapurthala city police station SHO as its members.
“We have conducted the forensic examination of the victim’s mobile phone and we have been looking into the findings of the report to take further action,” said Bhatti. According to a complaint filed by a 22-year-old woman on February 20, the pastor allegedly sent inappropriate messages and touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions since 2020.
{{/usCountry}}“We have conducted the forensic examination of the victim’s mobile phone and we have been looking into the findings of the report to take further action,” said Bhatti. According to a complaint filed by a 22-year-old woman on February 20, the pastor allegedly sent inappropriate messages and touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions since 2020.
{{/usCountry}}On March 25, he landed in a fresh controversy when he was booked under Sections 74 (assault or the use of criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage modesty), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt to someone), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the BNS at the Majri police station after the videos of him assaulting a man and woman in his office went viral on social media platforms.
Eerie silence descends at Tajpur Church
An eerie silence descended at the Church of Glory and Wisdom in Jalandhar’s Tajpur, the first main Pentecostal church owned and started by self-styled pastor and preacher Bajinder Singh, on Tuesday after he was awarded a life sentence till death in a 2018 rape case.
Referred to as ‘Papa’ by his followers, Bajinder (42), who was practising ‘miracle healing’ and claiming to cure fatal diseases, paralysis, evil spirits and other ailments through prayers, started his Sunday congregations from this place in 2012.
“This place always remained happening throughout as people, who wanted to get miracle cure, used to come for registrations, but now it is empty,” said a person who hails from Tajpur village on Jalandhar-Nakodar road.
Bajinder has 22 centres across the country mainly in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Tripura, Haryana, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Odisha, besides 12 centres in the US, UK, Dubai, Mauritius, Malaysia, Australia, Malaysia, Israel, New Zealand, Fiji and Rwanda.
He has gained popularity over the years with 3.75 million followers on YouTube. Many Bollywood stars including Chunky Pandey, Jaya Prada, Arbaaz Khan, Tusshar Kapoor and Aditya Pancholi have attended his lavish Christian prayer meetings in the past.
Avtar Singh, head of the Church of Glory and Wisdom in Tajpur could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.