File picture of Punjab preacher Bajinder Singh
The controversial self-styled “prophet” Bajinder Singh was on Tuesday (April 1, 2025) sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in Punjab’s Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar district in a rape and sexual harassment case from 2018.
Bajinder Singh (42), a self-proclaimed pastor, runs the Glory and Wisdom Church in Tajpur (Jalandhar) and Majri (Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar) in Punjab, as a part of his ministries, and claims to cure ailments and other problems by offering “miracle services” that have often come under criticism.
The additional session court, Mohali, found Bajinder Singh guilty of repeated rape in the case, under section 376(2)(n) [repeated rape on the same woman] of the Indian Penal Code, sentencing him to serve imprisonment for the “remainder part of his life.” The court had, last week, convicted Bajinder guilty under section 376 and other sections, while the other five accused in the case were acquitted.
In her complaint, the woman alleged that Bajinder came in contact with her in September 2017 and developed a physical relationship without her consent and that the act was committed against her on multiple occasions. She also alleged that she was made unconscious to film obscene videos of her and was raped since 2017.
She alleged that Bajinder demanded a huge sum of money under the threat of exposing her obscene videos. In April 2018, the police registered an First Information Report (FIR) against Bajinder under sections 376 (rape), 323 (causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) among others of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Zirakpur police station.
Amid the mushrooming of ‘Christian deras’, Bajinder came to the limelight around a decade ago after he started preaching at large gatherings at his churches. His career, however, has been marred with controversies. Apart from the rape case, a Delhi-based family in 2022 accused him of fraud after he allegedly took money from them to cure their daughter for her illness, but she could not be saved.
Recently, on February 28, 2025, Bajinder was booked by the Punjab police in Kapurthala on charges of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation following a complaint by a 21-year-old woman who was once a volunteer at the preacher’s ministry, where she spent around six years.
Published – April 01, 2025 01:04 pm IST
