SIT to probe sexual harassment charges against pastor Bajinder Singh

The Kapurthala police on Monday constituted a three-member special investigation team (SIT) to investigate sexual harassment charges levelled by a woman against 43-year-old pastor Bajinder Singh.

The team will be headed by Phagwara Superintendent of Police Roopinder Kaur. It includes DSP (SD) Deep Karan Singh and Kapurthala (City) SHO Bikramjit Singh.

Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Gaurav Toora said the SIT had been tasked with submitting the investigation report as expeditiously as possible.

“The requisite action will be taken based on the investigation report,” he said.

Meanwhile, the pastor termed the allegations against him as “baseless”.

According to the FIR, the woman had claimed that she was a volunteer at the pastor's church and that he had touched her inappropriately.

She alleged that the accused even sent her inappropriate text messages on the phone several times in four years - starting from 2020 - when she was 17 years old.

The woman alleged that the pastor also threatened to eliminate her and her family members if she complained about it to anyone.

"All allegations being levelled against me are absolutely baseless. These days, fake chats can be easily generated. If allegations are being levelled against me, then the other party must have some proof. In the past two and a half years, she couldn’t produce any evidence,” the pastor said. The pastor claimed that the woman suffered from seizures and was influenced by “evil spirits”.

“Our task is to pray for her. She is like our daughter. Sometimes, when volunteers don't get any reprieve, they take out their anger on us," he said.

The pastor had been embroiled in several controversies in the past. In 2018, he was arrested by the police for allegedly raping a Zirakpur-based woman.

He was arrested from the Delhi airport while he was set to fly to London. However, the charges against him couldn’t be proved in the court and he was acquitted in the case.

In September 2022, a Delhi family had alleged that Bajinder took money from them for treating their daughter, who was suffering from cancer, through prayers but she could not be saved. The Income Tax Department too had conducted raids on his premises in April 2023. A native of Haryana, pastor Bajinder had converted to Christianity about 15 years ago while he was lodged in a jail in a murder case.