A representation image of minor being assaulted sexually by a Muslim man (OpIndia)
Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar city has made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The city police have detained a man named Hamid Sayyed for the sexual assault of a minor Hindu girl who comes from the SC/ST community.
Before sexually assaulting the girl, the accused cultivated a “friendship” with the minor. Additionally, he recorded disparaging pictures and videos of her and threatened to release her if she didn’t comply.
Based on the complaint of the victim, the accused has been booked under sections of the SC/ST Act of 1989, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012, and the Indian Penal Code.
A First Information Report (FIR) in this case was filed on April 2, 2024. In her statement to the police, the young girl revealed that Hamid, the accused, resided in her locality and had sent her a friend request on Instagram. Familiar with Hamid, she accepted the request and engaged in casual conversation with him via text messages.
“I knew him as somebody who stays in the locality, so I responded to his texts. We began talking like friends. One day, however, he called me to meet where he forcefully captured some of my pictures. I refused and asked him to delete those, but he continued to take pictures. This was around October 2023. After 6 months or so, he began to threaten me and force me to meet him, failing which he said he would send my pictures to my parents,” the girl said.
The accused called the girl forcibly to his house in February 2024, according to the FIR. He said, if she didn’t comply, he would make her photos viral. Following the meeting, the accused locked her inside his home and assaulted the minor.
“He again shot some derogatory photos and videos of me. And used them to blackmail me to meet his sexual demands. I was too scared to tell all this at home. But recently, he again called me and said that he would send all those derogatory videos to my family and my fiance’ and would break my marriage. He said he would kill me if I didn’t meet him and fulfill his sexual desires,” the girl said.
The minor then told her father everything, and he decided to report the incident to the authorities. Sections 376(3)(rape), 342, 354, 354A, 354D, 323, 504, 506, and 507 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 have been invoked against the accused, Hamid Sayyed. Along with pertinent portions of the ST/ST Act, 1989, the accused have also been subjected to several POCSO sections, including 3, 4, 8, and 12.
In a similar case, reported from the Sangamner area of Maharashtra, a 36-year-old man named Imran Sayyed harassed, assaulted, and taunted a 17-year-old Hindu girl. The minor was being followed on the streets by the accused, who had blocked her path to her school. She used to feel uncomfortable when he teased her. The girl who filed the First Information Report on March 20, 2024, also claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the accused and that she had told her uncle about him.
According to reports, the incident took place on March 17. The girl was unaware of the identity of the accused, though. She had just informed her uncle that he was dressed in a kurta and had a round Islamic cap on his head.
The uncle then notified the police, who then filed an “unknown” person under Section 12 of the POCSO Act, 2012 and Section 354D of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (which defines stalking as the act of following, contacting, or attempting to contact a person persistently despite their obvious indication of disinterest).
Further investigations in the case are underway.
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