Punjab pastor Jashan Gill accused of rape, abortion, bribing police in Gurdaspur

Jashan Gill, a self-styled pastor in Gurdaspur town of Punjab, has been accused of raping a 22-year-old woman with her family alleging that he forced her to undergo an abortion that eventually claimed her life in 2023.

The father of the woman made the allegation close on the heels of a Mohali court sentencing another self-styled Christian pastor, Bajinder Singh, 42, to life imprisonment in a 2018 sexual harassment case on April 1.

“Our family used to go to a church in Abul Khair village of Gurdaspur district where the pastor, Jashan Gill, misled my daughter and raped her repeatedly. She was 22 and a student of bachelor of computer applications (BCA). He made her pregnant and later made her undergo an abortion by a nurse at Khokhar village,” the father told ANI, requesting anonymity.

Accusing the nurse of negligence, he said: “The abortion was performed carelessly, after which she caught an infection. My daughter complained of stomach pain and was hospitalised. After an ultrasound, we came to know that she had undergone an abortion, and then she was taken to Amritsar, where she died during treatment.”

The father also alleged police corruption, claiming that the pastor had bribed officials, which is why he had not been arrested yet. “The police have not arrested Gill. He roams freely even though this incident occurred in 2023. The police take money from him,” the woman’s father said, adding that he had been receiving multiple threats and feared for his life.

The father said he had approached the Punjab and Haryana high court, seeking a CBI inquiry into the case.

“I have got threats, so I left my village. I want justice for my daughter. Punjab Police have done nothing. I demand a CBI inquiry into the incident and have approached the high court,” he said.