Kozhikode Railway Protection Force (RPF) officers arrested four Muslim workers from Uttar Pradesh who gang-raped a minor girl, aged 16 from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh.

Iqrar Alam (18), Ajaz (25), Shakeel Shah (42), and Irshad (23), natives of Varanasi, were detained and handed over to Kerala police. The prime accused Alam groomed the minor, brought her to Kozhikode by train and bus, and gang-raped her with his accomplices. The UP natives were working in various hotels in Kozhikode city. 

Alam groomed the minor after promising marriage, and Ajaz accompanied them from Varanasi. The rapists promised they would escort her from Varanasi to meet her sister, who lives in Chennai. The accused were returning to Kozhikode and began their journey on the 20th. They did not allow the minor girl to get down at Chennai, and she was forced to descend at Palakkad. They reached Kozhikode by bus. Some reports say the accused met the girl on the train itself and lured her into coming with them.

Once at Kozhikode, they rented a room near the bus stand and took turns raping her. UP natives Shah and Irshad helped arrange the accommodation and used the opportunity to also sexually abuse the minor. The trauma caused by sexual assault physically weakened the young girl. The pedophiles then decided to abandon her and took her to Kozhikode railway station. They planned to send her to Chennai, but she resisted.  

An alert RPF team found the child on the platform, crying. They took her to the railway police station, where she narrated her horrific tale. Based on the child’s statement, the RPF took the four men into custody from the railway premises and handed them over to the local police. 

After questioning under the leadership of Inspector Prajeesh, the arrest of the four accused was recorded under the POCSO act. The girl was produced before the Child Welfare Committee and shifted to a government children’s home. CWC officials informed the media that the detailed statement of the child would be recorded later.

When the police contacted the Uttar Pradesh Police, they were informed that a girl’s relatives had filed a missing complaint at Birno police station in Ghazipur district. Kerala police suspect that this is the same girl. The police said they would take further action after talking to the child’s relatives.

The accused were seen laughing when taken to the government hospital for their physical examination. Around 30 lakh migrants work in Kerala’s towns, villages, and cities. Most are Islamists who come in large numbers knowing that Kerala is a ‘soft’ political state. Some are not even Bharatiya citizens but cross over from Bangladesh, including Rohingyas. 

Terrorist organizations like the Popular Front of India provide a safe haven and legal fees for such criminals. In turn, they use such Islamist youth for their dirty work. This became apparent during the PFI hartal that shook Kerala following the arrest of their leaders. These terrorists attacked both the police and ordinary citizens. Appeasement politics and ‘secularism’ ensure that neither the police nor the local administration offer any meaningful deterrence.  

Local media quickly dropped the story after discovering the accused’s Muslim identity. Details about the victim’s religion remain unknown. Was it grooming jihad?

This incident bears eerie similarity to the horrific case from Pune where a Hindu minor from Bihar was first befriended over social media and lured to elope by a Muslim youth working in Mumbai. When the girl arrived at the Pune station, there was no sign of the youth, but a Muslim auto-driver approached her and offered to drop her home.

What followed was horrific gang-rape of the minor over 2 days – she was taken to various lodges, kept naked, without food and violated by 11 Muslim men – auto drivers, AC mechanic, plumber, fabricator, watchman, laborer. When it looked like she was about to die, the demons dropped her back at the station, where she again raped by 2 railway workers. The girl was in a train with the youth who had initially got her to elope when she was traced and rescued by railway police.