Bangle seller thrashed, arrested for molesting girl, fake ID in 2021 acquitted
The Indore court said there was no evidence that the accused forged an Aadhaar card with the intention of cheating and used the said card as genuine
BHOPAL: A court in Indore on Monday acquitted a bangle seller who was thrashed and later arrested on charges that he posed as a Hindu on the basis of fake identity documents and sexually harassed a 13-year-old schoolgirl in 2021.
Rashmi Walter, special judge for cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, said in a 27-page verdict that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against Tasleem Ali, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district.
According to the court order made available on Tuesday, no charges of harassment, threatening and forgery have been proven against Tasleem Ali. In the order, the court said the girl denied that Ali came to sell bangles to her and identified himself by a Hindu name, Golu, son of Mohan Singh.
“There is also no evidence that the accused forged an Aadhaar card with the intention of cheating and used the said Aadhaar card as genuine despite knowing it was forged,” the order said.
Ali’s lawyer, Sheikh Aleem said Tasleem Ali was selling bangles as a hawker in Banganga area of Indore when 5-6 persons came and asked him his name on August 22, 2021.
“When he told his name, because he belonged to a particular religion, they started beating him, snatched ₹10,000 cash, his mobile, Aadhar card and looted bangles worth about ₹25,000 and repeatedly abused him,” the lawyer said.
The incident was captured on a mobile phone.
Narottam Mishra, who was the Madhya Pradesh home minister at the time, said Ali was using a fake identity and passing himself off as Hindu.
After Ali filed a police case against those who assaulted him, a complaint was filed against him. According to the complaint, a Class 6 student alleged that she and her sister were at home when he came and introduced himself as a Golu.
“We bought bangles from him. My mother went inside the house to get the money. The person held my hand with bad intentions and started harassing me by saying that you are so beautiful and touched my cheeks,” the girl said in the complaint.
It was also alleged that two Aadhaar cards identifying him as Asleem and Tasleem, in which his father was identified as Mohar Singh, were found in his bag.
Ali was arrested and remained in jail for three months before getting bail from the high court.
Citing the court order, Aleem said the girl, her mother and father refused to identify Tasleem Ali in court and also denied the incident. In their statements, they said an incident took place some distance away from their house and they were not aware of its details.
The headman of Tasleem Ali’s village in Hardoi deposed in court that the name of Tasleem’s father, Mohar Ali, was wrongly registered as Mohar Singh in the records. He also told the court that Tasleem was also known as Asleem in the village and that the two Aadhaar cards found on him had the same identity number.