Patna: A pastor of a Pentecostal sect was arrested in Bihar on charges of raping a woman follower.
Police said they arrested Chandrama Raj, the pastor of Indian Mission Church at Alamganj from Gurhatta, on October 22 after receiving rape complaints from two women.
“Statements of both women were recorded in the presence of a judicial magistrate. But the FIR was lodged by one of them. We have conducted a preliminary inquiry and arrested the priest Chandrama Raj. He has been sent to judicial custody.”
The women complained to Mahila (women) Police station on September 23, but the first information report was lodged only on October 8 after the complainants approached an NGO, Patna Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj told The Indian Express:
According to the police, the pastor invited a member of his sect to his residence under the pretense of performing special prayers to cure her of mental disease. Although the arrest was made on the basis of an FIR lodged by a woman from Patna City, another woman has recorded her statement with the police making similar allegations against the pastor.
The FIR said the pastor would make claims of exorcising ghosts and evil spirits. He conducted special prayers at his home where he reportedly raped the complainant who suffers from some mental illness.
Although the sect has not issued any statement on the matter, at least eight members visited the woman police station to protest against the filing of the FIR. The woman police station in-charge, Vibha Kumari, said: “We followed the due process before the arrest. We also interrogated the pastor at the police station before he was sent to judicial custody. We will question several people as well”.