By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent
The Thiruvananthapuram POCSO (Prevention Of Children from Sexual Offences) Court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Shafeeq al Qasimi, former imam, in a case of sexual assault on a minor girl. The Court observed that the deed done by a respectable person in the society was serious and that if bail is allowed the accused may try to influence the witnesses.
The incident related to the case took place on February 2, 2019. Qasimi is accused to have given a lift for the schoolgirl to go to her home in his car, but took her to a forested area and sexually assaulted her. A few women of the Kudumbasree (a community network for women empowerment under the State Government) unit passing by saw the car in the isolated place and caught the man with the girl. Qasmi immediately escaped, dropped the girl at her home and hid in several places in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh till he was caught by the police from Madurai in Tamil Nadu on March 7. He was sent to 14 days’ judicial custody when presented before the Nedumangad Judicial Court on April 8. He was then sent to 4 days’ police custody by the POCSO court on March 12. Meanwhile, the girl who has been put under the protection of the Child Welfare Committee was allowed to go with her mother by the Kerala High Court on March 8.
There was a delay in registering the case as neither the girl nor her relatives got ready to approach the police, even though the incident was caught in broad daylight. The teenage girl got ready to accuse the former imam of sexual assault after she was counselled for five days, and the case was registered on February 12. Qasimi is said to have used his proximity to and influence over the girl’s family to assault and misbehave with her.
Qasimi was the imam at a Thiruvananthapuram mosque and member of the Imams’ Council state committee. The mosque authorities and organization probed into the issue on their own and removed him from the positions. He changed places and had been on the run in disguise to escape arrest. The former imam who used to wear a shawl covering his head was wearing a t-shirt when caught from a lodge in Madurai. More than five persons including his two brothers have been arrested in connection with the case for assisting Qasimi to elude, arrange funds etc.