The All India Imams Council in a Facebook post on February 5 announced that it has suspended one of their state committee members as a “disciplinary action”. Shafiq Al Qassimi, the member who was suspended is also reported to be the chief Imam of the Tholicode Muslim mosque in Thiruvananthapuram. However, the reason for suspending the Imam was not mentioned in the post.

According to a report by News 18, Qassimi is alleged to have lured a minor girl into his car and later known to have taken her to a forest area where he sexually assaulted her. This is the alleged reason behind his suspension.

Qassimi is reported to be a man who is known to have been giving “advice to young men to walk on the right path.”

The report states that the minor girl, who was on her way back from school was lured by Qassimi into his Innova car, and he later took her to the forest area.

On seeing the vehicle under suspicious circumstances in the forest area, a few women workers stopped the car and questioned the Imam.

As per the report, Badusha, the President of the Jama’ath said that anyone who is going to the forest area where the Imam took the minor to won’t be able to find the spot for the first time. “This means that he would have gone to that area before,” said Badusha.

Badusha said that when the women approached the Imam and questioned him as to who the girl who was still in her school uniform was, the Imam replied that she was his wife. When the women asked how such a young girl can be his wife, the Imam is reported to have taken his vehicle and left the spot.

When TNM got in touch with the Vithura police station, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, a police official said, “We did investigate the case but the minor and her family completely denied anything like this ever happened and so a complaint could not be registered."