A special investigation team has been constituted to probe the case of an Arab marrying a minor Muslim girl residing in an orphanage in the city and later divorcing her.
Town Circle Inspector T.K. Ashraf will head the team and Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) K.R. Premachandran will monitor the investigation.
Shirlet Mani, Circle Inspector, Vanita Cell, Mohammed Ashraf, Sub-Inspector, Chemammaganad police station, K. Chandrasekharan, Sub-Inspector, District Crime Records Bureau, and senior civil police officers drawn from the Chemammaganad, Town and Kasaba stations will be part of the team.
The case relates to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) national Jasem Mohammed Abdul Karim Abdulahmed, 28, marrying a 17-year-old girl from an orphanage on June 13. He left the country on July 1 and divorced her through triple talaq over the phone.
The police are chalking out steps for extraditing Jasem, who has been named first accused in the case.
The accused was born to a Malayali- UAE couple and he later adopted the domicile of his father.
He had resided in India for six years.
The police have arrested three persons, Sulaika, 42, mother of Jasem, her second husband, C. Muneer, 38, and Abu Shahabas, 27, in connection with the case.
Charges
They have been charged with Section 376 (rape) and Sections of the Prohibition of Domestic Violence Act, Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Juvenile Justice Act, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Investigators have gathered evidence from the girl, her family members in Malappuram, and orphanage authorities.
The probe is also centred on the orphanage officials who were alleged to have facilitated the marriage.
The police have submitted a list of 11 accused, including five officials of the orphanage, in the Kozhikode Judicial First Class Magistrate Court. Meanwhile, the orphanage officials, including its chairman and secretary, have approached the District Sessions Court here seeking anticipatory bail. The bail plea will be taken up on Saturday.
The police said Jasem had given a gold chain worth six sovereigns, sweets worth Rs.4,000, and a mobile phone worth Rs.20,000 to the girl’s family.
He had also spent money for buying clothes for the victim and had incurred the expenses of the marriage.
More than 250 people had witnessed the marriage, which included senior members of the orphanage, the investigators said.
