2018 sexual harassment case in Zirakpur: Mohali court issues non-bailable warrants against pastor Bajinder

Mohali : A Mohali court on Monday issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against three persons, including 42-year-old self-styled preacher and pastor Bajinder Singh, who runs the Church of Glory and Wisdom at Majri, after the trio did not appear before the court in a 2018 sexual harassment case registered against them at the Zirakpur police station.

Bajinder was arrested at the Delhi airport on July 20, 2018, for alleged rape of a Zirakpur woman, when he was about to board a flight to London where he was scheduled to attend an event.

The pastor’s aides — Jatinder, Akbar Ali, Sitar Ali, Sucha Singh, Rajesh Chaudhary and Sandeep Pehlwan — have also been named in the FIR. They too allegedly assaulted her.

The court also issued NBWs against Sandeep Pehlwan and Akbar Ali as they failed to appear before the court in the sexual assault case which is on the final stage of the trial.

The victim, a resident of Zirakpur who runs a dhaba, told the police that Bajinder came in contact with her in 2017 and lured her on the pretext of taking her board.

Police said the woman became a part of his team of volunteers who looked after security at his events. The victim alleged that Bajinder raped her at his house in Sector 63, Mohali, and even recorded a video of the sexual assault. She said the accused threatened to post the video on social media if she complained or did not agree to his demands.

After the police received the complaint in April 2018, the accused allegedly eloped, following which police got a lookout notice issued against him. According to the police, he was nabbed while trying to leave to London.

Then Zirakpur station house officer Pawan Kumar said the victim had paid ₹3 lakh to the accused and even made another person, Jatinder, pay an equal amount to him for going abroad.

A case was registered under Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 354 (outraging modesty of woman), 294 (obscenity), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 67 (transmitting sexually explicit content) of the Information Technology (IT) Act at Zirakpur police station.

Born into a Jat family in Haryana’s Yamunanagar, Bajinder converted to Christianity when he was lodged in jail in a murder case.

Bajinder started holding Sunday prayer meetings for healing in 2012. He moved to Chandigarh in 2015 and was staying in a society in Sector 48 before shifting to the housing board flats in Sector 63, where he allegedly raped the victim.