Thiruvananthapuram: A Shalom TV video, which purportedly shows a pastor saying that women who wear jeans, t-shirt and arouse men by wearing skimpy clothes should be drowned, has gone viral. The video was posted on Facebook by Jasmine PK on January 25.

The pastor starts his address by saying that he doesn’t feel like leading the Mass at some churches, seeing the girls sitting in the front row wear jeans, tops or t-shirts with a mobile in hand.

He says, “They don’t even comb or tie their hair,” adding that he doesn’t understand why these “things have to be brought to the church”.

The pastor then questions the girls attending his address. “My question to the girls sitting here is — has the Catholic diocese granted you permission to wear clothes that men do? Forget the diocese. Is the Bible giving you the permission?” he asks.

Quoting the Bible, the priest then says, “Bible says women should not wear the clothes of men and men should not wear the clothes of women. If you do that, you disregard god.”

The video carries the logo of Shalom TV, but CNN-News18 could not independently verify its authenticity or when it was aired. Jasmine, who posted the video on Facebook, setting off an online storm, said she did not know the “identity of the pastor”. Calls to Shalom TV for details on the viral video clip went unanswered.

The pastor also claims in the video that some boys had approached him saying they were “enticed when they saw semi-nude women” outside church and “committed sin”.

Citing the Bible once again, the preacher claims that if a youngster or an old man finds women in the church wearing skimpy clothes, and forcing them to sin, such women should be drowned in the sea after tying a stone to their neck.

Questioning the clothing choices of women, he says that the biggest problem is the way women dress. “They complain every day about their problems; about their marriage not taking place; about not getting jobs,” he says, adding that all of this was because of what they wear.

“You have a nice attire in the form of a churidar, but now Satan has entered you, prompting you to throw away your dupatta.”

He then recalls an instance where a girl was allegedly impregnated by her brother. He says that the family had to force the girl to abort the foetus. “Her father said that his son told him he was aroused by his sister’s attire when parents were out on work,” says the pastor.

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