On Tuesday (7th November), a Maulana from the Latur district of Maharashtra was arrested by the Police for molesting a 21-year-old woman under the guise of providing her with religious education. The accused person has been identified as Maulana Ismail Karim Sheikh, resident of Madani Chowk, Latur, and has been booked under sections 376, 377, and 67A of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the reports, the incident came to the fore after the victim woman complained about the Maulana to her husband. She said that she was repeatedly being molested by the accused at his place, at her home in Latur, and also inside the vehicles. She said that the accused threatened her and usually drove her around in a car and raped her inside the car.
She said the videos of the incidents were also recorded by the accused. The husband of the victim woman after learning about the molestation attempted to gather evidence against the Maulana. He believed that nobly would trust the woman given the powerful position of the accused within the community.
The next time the Maulana arrived at the home of the victim to assault her, the latter recorded the video of the accused and used it to file a police complaint against him. The couple gathered the evidence on November 1. The victim and her husband then sought the help of one Faim Sayyed whom the husband knew from the community. Sayyed deceptively grabbed the clip from the victim and said that he would help the duo attain justice.
However, Sayyed uploaded the video on the social media platform and made it viral. An FIR has been filed against the Maulana and the Faim Sayyed for molesting a woman and spreading her derogatory video on social media respectively.
The primary accused in the case, Maulana Ismail Karim Sheikh has been arrested by the Police. FIR has been filed under sections 376, 377, and 67A of the Indian Penal Code at the Vivekanand Police Station. Further investigations are underway.
