Indore: The Indore High Court has reprimanded the police for failing to register an FIR into the alleged sexual assault of a Punjabi widow by a father of nine in Madhya Pradesh who also forced her to convert, officials said. It has been learned that the court asked the Vijayanagar police station officials why a case had not been registered against the accused despite the woman's statement to top police officials.
The police told the court that the woman had not lodged a written complaint to which the court said that her statement is treated as a formal complaint. The police are expected to register a case into the allegations after the court reprimand. The victim's lawyer Krishna Kumar said that after the Hindu woman's husband died, the accused Mohammed Shakir took advantage of it and befriended her in the name of getting her a bank loan.
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Kumar said that Shakir later lured the woman into a love trap and had a physical relationship with her after sedating her. The accused also made a video of the sexual assault and started blackmailing her with it, Kumar said. “He used to take her home and exploit her. In the meantime, one day the victim came to know that the accused belongs to a particular community and is the father of 9 children,” he said.
Kumar said the accused also forced her to wear a burqa and took her to the madrasa and signed the papers written in Urdu. “When the victim asked Shakir about his wife and 9 children, Shakir said polygamy was allowed in their religion. When the accused started pressurizing the victim to change religion and change the name of her daughter, then the victim first approached the police and later the court for justice,” added Kumar.
Kumar further alleged that the accused changed the woman's name to Sakina.
