To ‘cast out evil’, pastors thrash Gurdaspur man to death

As many 10 pastors have been booked for allegedly beating up a 30-year-old person to death in the name of exorcism in Singhpura village, falling under the Dhariwal police station of Gurdaspur district, the police said on Sunday evening

As many 10 pastors have been booked for allegedly beating up a 30-year-old person to death in the name of exorcism in Singhpura village, falling under the Dhariwal police station of Gurdaspur district, the police said on Sunday evening.

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The incident took place on August 21. Rakhal, mother of the deceased, said, “My son Samuel Masih was crying due to some ailment (apparently due to seizures). I called Jacob Masih, a pastor in the local church, for prayer for my son. They said a demon had entered his body that needed to be exorcised.”

According to her, Jacob, after reaching her house, called around 10 more pastors and started thrashing Samuel after tying his hands and legs. “They dragged and beat up my son mercilessly, leaving him injured. Assuring family members, the pastors were saying that they were hitting not my son, but the demon in the body. He succumbed to his injuries,” she said.

Rakhal said Samuel was the only breadwinner in the family. The family buried the body in a graveyard. The family said that being poor, it didn’t think of lodging a police complaint initially. After two days, his mother informed the police after being advised by a few relatives, said people familiar with the development.

On Sunday, the police handed over the body to the family in presence of duty magistrate Inderjit Kaur and DSP Kulwant Singh Mann after the postmortem examination. The deceased is survived by three sons and wife. “We hoped that my husband will recover after the prayer but he was thrashed to death by pastors,” said victim’s wife Sunita.

Duty magistrate Inderjit Kaur said, “The death is the fallout of blind faith.”