A pastor and 12 other individuals have been arrested on rape and kidnapping charges at the Dera Baba Nanak police station on a complaint lodged by a 22-year-old woman.
The victim claimed she was beaten and coerced into converting by the accused pastor, Manjit Singh. Besides Manjit Singh, the other accused include his father, Sawar Masih, sisters Kajal, Rina and Jina, the cousin of the victim, Napinder Singh, Parvez Masih, Happy Masih, Rajinder Singh and Rimi. Two unidentified individuals have also been booked.The third such case involving Christian pastors is this one. Previously, Mohali-based Bajinder Singh was convicted on charges of rape while Gurdaspur-based Jashan Gill was arrested on the same charges.
Sections 70, 127 (4) and 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have been
quoted in the FIR filed at the Dera Baba Nanak police station.The petitioner, in her petition, stated, “Sawar Masih obtained my ID from my cousin brother, Napinder Singh, and began stalking me on the social media platform.“. On 19th January, Sawar and his relatives abducted me from my home and pointed sharp-edged weapons at me. Afterwards, they brought me to an undisclosed location where I was held captive for three months and was continuously raped. Pastor Manjit Singh also visited there and told me from now on I was a Christian. Somehow I was able to flee on April 13 after Sawar and his family had stepped out and had left me locked inside the house.SSP Suhail Qasim Mir
stated, “We are probing the case. I have constituted a number of teams and we hope to arrest all the accused soon.”
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