MOHAMMED NIYAS Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the sole accused in Crime No.16/2019 of Palode Police Station, Thiruvananthapuram, which has been registered for offences punishable under Secs.7 and 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2015 and Sec. 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act.

(2.) The gist of the prosecution case is that the petitioner being the ustad of a religious institution, which is teaching Koran and giving Islamic teachings to children, had called the minor victim boy aged 14 years to the Madrassa on a Saturday in the month of December, 2018 and had taken him to a darkroom, made him to sit in a cot, kissed him, undo the button of his shirt, patted over chest, removed his trousers and patted on his genitals and during this time, the petitioner accused has spoken sexually coloured words and thereby committed the abovesaid offences.

(3.) Sri.Babu Karukapadath, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit on the basis of the instructions of his party that the abovesaid charges have been falsely foisted against the petitioner and that the petitioner is a married person having 7 children and even going by the admitted version of the minor victim boy, the alleged incident had taken place at a time when all the 7 children and his wife were there in the house, which is very adjacent to the Madrassa and that the very allegations are intrinsically improper and unbelievable and further that the father of the victim, who is a former student of the Madrassa, was a leader of the militant group called SDPI, and that the said group had tried to create communal tensions in the locality and that the petitioner as the ustad had opposed such extremist communal agenda of the father of the said student. Further that the minor victim is a former student of the Madrassa who had caused disturbance to other students during the class for which the petitioner had warned him and that the boy has used abusive words and filthy languages while among the students and the petitioner had brought these aspects to the notice of his parents. The petitioner's counsel would urge that these are the background facts which had given rise to such false allegations against the petitioner by using the minor boy.