To “drive out evil”, pastors beat a man from Gurdaspur to death

About ten pastors have been charged with beating a 30-year-old man to death under the pretext of exorcism in Singhpura village under the jurisdiction of Dhariwal police station in Gurdaspur district, police said on Sunday evening.

The incident took place on August 21. Rakhal, the mother of the deceased, said: “My son Samuel Masih was crying because he was sick (apparently due to seizures). I called Jacob Masih, a pastor of the local church, and asked him to pray for my son. They said a demon had entered his body and needed to be exorcised.”

According to her, when Jacob reached her house, he called about ten other pastors and started beating Samuel after tying his hands and legs. “They dragged my son and beat him mercilessly, leaving him injured. The pastors assured the family members that they did not beat my son but the demon in the body. He succumbed to his injuries,” she said.

Rakhal said Samuel was the sole breadwinner of the family. The family buried the body in a graveyard. The family said they were poor and so did not initially think of filing a police complaint. After two days, his mother informed the police after being advised by some relatives, people familiar with the development said.

Baljit Kaur, station house officer in Dhariwal, said the body was dug out on Saturday and sent to the Civil Hospital for postmortem. “We have arrested these pastors, including Jacob Masih alias Jacki, and Baljit Singh alias Sonu, and 7-8 unknown persons under sections 105, 190 and 191(3) of the BNS. The accused are absconding and a manhunt has been launched to nab them,” she said.

On Sunday, the police handed over the body to the family after the post-mortem in the presence of the on-duty magistrate Inderjit Kaur and DSP Kulwant Singh Mann. The deceased leaves behind three sons and a wife. “We hoped that my husband would recover after prayers, but he was beaten to death by the pastors,” said the victim's wife, Sunita.

Judge Inderjit Kaur, who was in charge, said: “Death is the consequence of blind faith.”