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AIMIM corporator held for sheltering accused in Nashik religious coercion case
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporator Mateen Patel was sent to judicial custody until August 11 for sheltering Nida Khan
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Sambhajinagar corporator Mateen Patel was arrested on Friday for allegedly sheltering one of the accused in the alleged sexual harassment and religious coercion case at a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)-linked Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in Maharashtra’s Nashik.
Patel’s lawyer, Ajaysinh Bhosale, said a local court issued a non-bailable warrant against his client, as he failed to appear before it on July 28. He added that police produced Patel before the court of the additional sessions judge K G Joshi after arresting him, and he was sent to judicial custody until August 11.
The Nashik Police arrested and produced Patel in the court after bringing him from Sambhajinagar following the issuance of a non-bailable warrant.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the case, has accused Patel of sheltering Nida Khan for 42 days before her arrest. It named him as a co-accused in the case registered against Khan, Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar on a BPO employee’s complaint accusing them of sexual harassment and religious coercion.
The SIT said Patel arranged the accommodation for Khan and her family after she was booked in the case. It questioned Patel four times and seized his cell phones. Patel has denied knowing Khan personally. He claimed that he only helped a family get a rented house and was unaware that Khan was a part of it.
On July 6, Judge Joshi granted bail to Attar and Khan, who is pregnant, while rejecting the plea from the prime accused, Shaikh. The complainant accused Shaikh of sexually assaulting her on the false promise of marriage. She alleged that Khan and Attar hurt her religious sentiments and coerced her in matters related to religion.
The prosecution submitted that Shaikh gave an Islamic book and robe to the complainant, a co-worker, with the motive of religious conversion. It said this suggests she was sexually exploited and that efforts were made for her religious conversion.
The prosecution claimed that the accused, despite knowing that the complainant was from a Scheduled Caste, attempted to convert her. Shaikh and Khan were also booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
