‘To send a message to public’, police parade rape-accused bootlegger in Navsari village

On Wednesday afternoon, police escorted the rape accused and paraded him for two kms. “The man has created terror in the entire village and everybody was scared of him. We paraded him in the market area of the village with an intention to send a message among the public that nobody is above law and those who are into criminal activities will be strictly dealt with. There are 18 different offences of quarrelling, bootlegging, etc, lodged against him,” District Local Crime Branch police inspector D S Korat said.

Locals were also seen cheering the police action as they burst firecrackers and showered flower petals on the police as Shaikh was paraded. Shoeb Shaikh, a local resident, told The Indian Express, “Asim Shaikh and his entire family members are infamous for terrorising the villagers. Everybody was scared of him, as a result of which, nobody used to complain against him. We appreciate the action taken by the Navsari police.”

According to the woman’s complaint, after she repeatedly refused his attempts to become friends with her, the accused “repeatedly chased her at different locations”. Later, Asim turned up at her college in Vadodara in 2021 when he threatened her of suicide if she rejected his marriage proposal. Later, the accused took her to his friend’s house in Vadodara and raped her. He continued the physical relationship with her after luring her to get married.

Eventually, the survivor broke off her relationship after she learnt that Asim was married. She disclosed the story to her parents after which she left her study midway and returned to Khergam in 2022.

However, the harassment continued as Asim shared their videos with a family member of the man to whom the girl was supposed to get married. The woman confronted him subsequently after which he told her that marriage was not possible as it could lead to communal riots, the FIR stated.

To overcome communal tension, Asim asked her to get married to his friend Ronak Patel and get divorced from him “so that they could get married”. Accordingly, the woman married Patel at a Navsari temple and returned to her village and appeared before the Khergam police. Upon her wish, the woman was handed over to her parents.

However, as the pressure from Asim continued, the woman approached the police with a complaint of rape.

Following the complaint, the police had registered an FIR charging him under IPC Act Sections 376 (2) (n)(rape committed repeatedly on same woman), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of trust) and 506(2) (punishment for criminal intimidation).