An Imam — head of Islamic seminary — allegedly abducted and raped a 30-year-old married woman in his Madrasa in the border district of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir.
Police have arrested Molvi Altaf Ahmad Malik and booked him for rape, abduction and wrongful confinement under Sections 376, 366 and 342 of Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) respectively. Malik, police said, has been heading Darul Uloom for boys in Qalam Abad in Kupwara district for the last one year.
Police officers said Malik had picked up the woman from a social function saying he’d drop her home. He then took her to his Darul Uloom where he allegedly raped her.
“Locals informed us that a Molvi had taken a woman inside his Darul Uloom. We immediately rushed a party headed by the Station House Officer to the spot. The police party found the preacher in unacceptable position,” said Shabir Ahmad, sub divisional police officer, Handwara.
The woman narrated how she was abducted and raped during interrogation. “She requested this Molvi to drop her home from a function as she knew him. The Molvi, instead of dropping her home, took her to his Darulul Uloom. The locals learnt of the incident from her screams, and called us,” Shabir said.
Police conducted medical examinations on the woman and are awaiting the reports.
This is not the first incident in which an Imam has been booked for rape in Jammu and Kashmir. Last year an Imam allegedly sodomised an eight-year-old boy in the Hamam (an enclosure adjoining prayer hall used in winters to keep the room warm) of a mosque at Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Data released by National Crime Records Bureau revealed that there were 331 cases of rape reported in Jammu and Kashmir in 2015 compared to 331 in 2014 and 378 in 2013.
