In Maharashtra’s Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad) District, a case of a Muslim girl and her family is accused of trapping an SC neo-Buddhist man. The girl’s family not only extorted 11 lakhs rupees from the victim identified as Dipak Sonawane but also forced him to embrace Islam and forcibly got him circumcised. Sonawane also highlighted that AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel, District Judge Kadari, and a police officer were helping the girl Sana Farheen Shahmir and her family.

Deepak said he met the girl Sana in 2018 at MIT college where they were classmates and fell in love. However, after some time Sana began pressurizing him to convert to Islam. “Sana lured me into marriage and said, ‘I want to marry you, you embrace Islam, recite namaz, read the Quran. In March 2021, her parents, uncle, and sister called me to meet in the Gulmandi area. When I went there, they told me to park my bike there and told me that ‘we all need to go somewhere”, Deepak said.

“As soon as I refused, Khawaja Sayyed and Shahmir Sheikh forcibly took me to their house. They locked me in the room. Shahmir Sheikh and Khawaja Sayyed removed my clothes. Shabana Begum and Sazia Sadaf tied my hands and legs and put a cloth in my mouth, while Shahmir Shaikh urinated on my body. The video of the act was shot on the mobile of Sana and Shahmeer Shaikh as they started beating me up for converting to Islam”, he added.

He added that later Sana and her mother got him forcibly circumcised at the hospital located in the lane behind the City Chowk police station. They also threatened to defame him by leaking his video. Furthermore, they even threatened to murder him and his family. Deepak feared for his and his family’s life as well as the ignominy he would have to face if the video was leaked.

The girl’s family also started extorting money from him and said they would register a complaint against him. Deepak said he has paid a total of 11 lakhs, 7 lakhs in cash and 4 lakhs online. The accused’s family demanded 25 lakhs more but Deepak refused to fulfil their demand as he didn’t have money.

Following the incident when Deepak stayed away from Sana, her family filed a case under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) with the MIDC CIDCO police station. The girl even called him and said her parents had filed a case while adding she would get the case withdrawn if he paid 25 lakhs. Her father also asked Deepak to either pay the money or convert to Islam.

To add to Deepak’s woes, District judge Kadari ruled illegally in favour of the Muslim girl due to which Deepak had to spend 40 days in jail. Another case was filed under IPC Section 376 (rape) by the Shahmir family. However, Dipak was granted bail by the session court as the allegations were found to be false despite the offence being unbailable.

“Furthermore, in September, Sana Shahmir Shaikh and Khawaja Sayyed compelled Deepak to visit the cloud campus, where they forced him to watch videos of Muslim cleric Dr Zakir Naik and offer namaz. When Deepak stood up to them, they beat him up and hurled casteist insults at him. They said, ‘You belong to the Mahar caste. The Mahar caste is a lower caste. You people are filth-eaters. You are not a Mahar, but a prostitute community’. They went down to a lower level and hurled casteist insults”, notes News Bharati.

It must be mentioned that Zakir Naik’s videos are illegal in Bharat and those showing them could be arrested under the UAPA Act. However, in Deepak’s case the police not just refused to register an FIR against Sana and her family but also asked Deepak to embrace Islam. His multiple complaints to the CP (Commissioner of Police) office weren’t acted upon even though he was given assurances that the police would ‘talk’ to his girlfriend’s family.

Highlighting the role of AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel, who won the election due to the support of those belonging to the SC community, Deepak says Jaleel also supported the girl’s family and in mid-September, the MP and his bodyguards locked him in the classroom hall of a coaching class, and beat him up. They also threatened him and asked him to convert to Islam failing which they said they would kill him and his family. Moreover, they also demanded money and hurled casteist abuse at him.

“On 20-08-22, at 2.00 pm, the named persons forced me to sit with them in a car from near Paithan Gate and took me to ‘Cloud Campus’ on the Satyavishnu Hospital Road, near MP Imtiaz Jaleel’s house in the Rozabagh area. There, in the presence of MP Imtiaz Jaleel, they locked me in the classroom hall of a coaching class, and his bodyguards beat me up and the named persons snatched Rs. 1,50,000 cash, a laptop and one plus company’s mobile phone from me. I was beaten up there, they threatened to kill me and demanded money, and hurled casteist abuse at me. All this has been going on for the last two years and legal action should be taken against the non-applicant”, reads Deepak’s complaint.

“The victim filed a written complaint against the girl Sana Farheen Shahmir Sheikh and her family members Shahmir Shamshuddin Sheikh, Khawaja Sayyed, Shabana Begum Sheikh, Sazia Sadaf Shahmir Sheikh, AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel, and his bodyguards in Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, but police have yet to file any charges”, highlighted News Bharati.

When no action was taken against the girl and her family, Deepak wrote to the SC Commission. The commission took note of the matter and issued a notice on November 25 directing the police commissioner of Sambhaji Nagar, to submit the facts and information on the action taken on the allegations/matters to the commission within 15 days of receipt of the notice.

(Featured Image Source: News Bharati)