Kerala High Court asks for appearance of sexual assault survivor on Mar 6

The Kerala High Court Wednesday directed police and the child welfare committee to produce before it a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a Muslim cleric.

Considering a habeas corpus plea filed by the mother of the girl, the high court directed the child welfare committee and police to produce the girl before it on March 6.

The girl is in the child welfare committee's protection.

Last week, the court had directed the child welfare committee to consider and issue an appropriate order on the request made by the girl's mother to entrust the minor's custody with her.

The court had also allowed the mother, the girl's siblings and grandparents to visit her at the children's home between 5pm-6pm.

In her plea, the mother alleged that the minor was in illegal confinement and child welfare committee's custody.

The mother also submitted that her daughter was studying in Class 10 and is slated to appear for the board examination next month.

A case has been registered against Shafeeq Al Qasimi, the former chief imam (cleric) of a rural mosque at Tholicode near Thiruvananthapuram, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for luring the girl to an isolated forest area and allegedly sexually assaulting her, police said.

The incident came to light after a group of local women had confronted the cleric after seeing him with the school-going girl in the forest, they said, adding that the cleric was absconding since then.