Hyderabad: Self-Styled Godman Azam Arrested For Raping Teenager In Dargah On Pretext Of Removing Evil Spirits

Azam, a self-styled godman, was apprehended by the Hyderabad police after over the allegations of repeatedly raping a 19-year-old girl on the pretext of chasing away evils from her house in the Muslim majority area of Borabanda, Hyderabad, reports OpIndia.

The rape-accused got in touch with the girl belonging to the same area and soon started frequenting her house. Hatching the scheme, Azam told her parents that their house needs to be rid of some evil forces which had a negative impact on their lives.

Further, Azam took the family on a visit to a Dargah in Bidar district of Karnataka, to cast away the ‘evils’. After reaching the place, Azam lured the victim and raped her.

“After their return from the trip, Azam again visited the house of the victim and asked her parents to stay outside while he recited some Islamic verses to scare off the evil. “Managing to have the girl alone in the house, the accused once again raped her,” Panjagutta Additional Commissioner of Police Thirupatanna said.

A case has been registered under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code at S.R. Nagar Police station.

It can be recalled that one Asif Khan aka Ashu Maharaj was booked under the same section along with relevant provisions of the POCSO Act after raping a minor girl under similar pretexts.

The mainstream media has often been criticised for misleading people using images relating to Hinduism or caricatures of Sadhus. Times of India even turned one godman ‘Asif Noori’, who forced his male devotees into ‘unnatural sex’, into a Hindu saint in one of its reports, and was later forced to apologise for the wrongful representation.