Mumbai: A special POCSO (Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences) court on Monday granted interim relief from arrest to former Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) corporator, Siraj Shaikh, in a rape case.
Shaikh contended that he has been falsely implicated in the case due to political rivalry.
The former BMC corporatior’s petition will be heard in due course.
Mr Shaikh’s lawyer pointed out before the court that as per the complaint, the alleged incident took place on October 27, 2019, but a police complaint was registered only after a week on November 5.
Shaikh filed his nomination as an Independent candidate on November 3, two days after which, the First Information Report (FIR) was lodged against him.
According to the police, Shaikh called the 13-year-old girl, also his relative, to his house on the pretext of filling a scholarship form and sexually abused her.
The complainant claimed that when she tried to raise an alarm, Shaikh threatened her with dire consequences.
Following the incident, Shaikh was booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Initially, a case was registered against him with the Shivaji Nagar police station.
Later, however, it was transferred to the Mumbai crime branch.
With this, Shaikh became the first Assembly election candidate from Mumbai to be booked by the police on charges of rape.
