A minor girl has been repeatedly raped by her mother’s boyfriend Ashpak Sheikh for the last three years by drugging her in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district. Her mother is allegedly a ‘love jihad’ victim. The 15-year-old girl stated that her mother is also missing for 3 years. A case was registered against him and he was arrested on 23 November. The events covered by the First Information Report (FIR) occurred between 1 January 2020 and 23 November of this year. Investigation into the matter is underway.
The shocking incident pertains to the Pundalik Nagar police station area of Aurangabad. The complaint regarding the case was submitted by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) members. The teenager in her complaint revealed that when she was just two years old, her mother filed for divorce from her first husband after which she moved in with Ashpak Sheikh in the Bharat Nagar neighbourhood where she gave birth to a son named Sameer. The accused didn’t think of the child as his own and the couple used to frequently fight over the issue.
The victim has since moved into the same area with her mother and brother born to the Muslim man. Referring to an incident about 3 years ago, she mentioned that one day she went to a wedding with her brother and her mother called her and told the duo to return home because of an altercation. When they reached the place, she spotted numerous glass fragments scattered around and the Ashpak Sheikh’s throat was scratched.
However, the girl could not find her mother anywhere and Ashpak claimed that she had left when the children inquired about her. He also started making preparations to take them from Aurangabad to Mumbai. She did not believe his words and asked neighbours about her mother who informed her that they had seen her mother suffering a head injury on the same day. Furthermore, they informed that the offender was witnessed chasing her with a wooden stick.
Ashpak Sheikh shifted both kids to Mumbai and stayed there for eight days. Meanwhile, one night he was gathering information about the situation in Aurangabad over the phone. He wanted to know if everything was fine there and whether he could come back. The young girl heard the conversation. The next morning he went to Aurangabad with her and Sameer where he stayed for one month and one day sexually abused the adolescent.
After a while, he travelled to Aurangabad’s Phulambri with her where he began regularly raping her by feeding her chocolate and drug pills in milk. He then took her to his sister Irfana’s residence Naregaon which is also in Aurangabad. Here he talked about fixing the girl’s Nikah (marriage in Islam) with a boy and also unveiled that her Haldi ceremony has been decided.
However, the victim objected to the wedding and was offered two options by him. The first one was to marry the boy of his choice or make a physical relationship with the perpetrator. She was threatened with death if she refused to choose between the two and he continued to violate her sexually taking advantage of her fear. He returned to Aurangabad with her after some time where too he fed her chocolate-coloured pills in milk as well as water and raped her.
The culprit often used to show her pornographic films on his mobile and forced her to dance naked multiple times. On 23 October at around 6 pm, the girl went to Aurangabad’s Karnapura area with her friend and the friend’s mother. She came back home late from there and Ashpak Sheikh tried to rape her once again, but she kicked him hard and got the opportunity after which she fled the house. She then arrived at her friend’s house and spent the night there. She went straight to the Pundalik Nagar police station in the morning without alerting anyone in order to avoid bothering them.
Ashpak Sheikh filed a missing report at the police station after the teen girl left home. However, she asserted that she was safe, and he was doing this to save himself. The victim in her statement noted that she had suffered for the previous three years at his brutal hands. She added that there has been no trace of her mother for these three years. When questioned, the perpetrator alleged that she absconded with someone else.
Members of the Hindu group contacted the victim after learning about the case and provided assistance. The police have launched a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as well as sections 376, 376 (2)(n), 376 (3), 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code. Ashpak Sheikh has been nabbed and authorities are probing the issue. OpIndia has the FIR copy.
