In a case of justice for the skating instructor who was wrongly accused by the city police in the rape of a six-year-old girl in a school at Marathahalli here, the special designated court on Thursday issued an order to release 30-year-old Mustafa.
The court order comes two months after the city police arrested and named Mustafa as a prime accused in the case which led to a citywide campaign by parents for safety in schools. The order was passed as the court accepted a report by the police that they did not find evidence to prove the allegations.
While the police arrested Mustafa on July 20 and booked him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act based on circumstantial evidence, further investigations revealed the alleged involvement of Lal Giri, a security guard, and Waseem Pasha, a gym instructor. Later, the police claimed that while Mustafa was not the main accused he was aware of the crime. However, they filed a report a few days ago that they found no evidence against Mustafa.
With an intense media scrutiny of the case, the Bangalore police had even claimed that Mustafa was a paedophile and that he allegedly tried to abuse at least four other children.
While the police have not been able prove any of the allegations they made, Mustafa’s parents and family had consistently maintained that he was innocent. His laptop and mobile phone were taken away by the police a day before he was arrested and his parents had alleged that the police might have tampered with the laptop and mobile phone themselves.
While the parents welcomed the court order, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South East) Rohini Katoch Sepat said that though Mustafa was given a clean chit in this case, there was another sexual harassment case pending against him.
