Mangaluru police write to passport office about persons accused of sexual harassment

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, October 29, 2024: The city police have written to the Regional Passport Office to take appropriate action on the passports issued to two city residents who are accused in a case of sexual harassment.

Davood Siddiq and Shabana were among the four persons booked in a case of sexual harassment registered by the Mangaluru East police station on May 13, 2023. The four were accused of assaulting a woman and her relative at a marriage hall in Kulashekar and also tearing down the burqah of the woman.

The police registered the case for offences punishable under Sections 355, 504, and 323 of Indian Penal Code. The case is before the 6th Judicial Magistrate First Class Court, Mangaluru, and is in the stage of recording evidence.

Meanwhile, Mr. Siddiq and Ms. Shabana applied for passport. The jurisdictional Mangaluru Rural police, during the verification process, did not find any criminal case against the applicants. After the police verification report, the Passport office issued passport to them in February 2024.

Following reports accusing jurisdictional police of deliberately giving a false verfication report, the issue was inquired by a senior police official.

The official, who did not want his name to be mentioned, told The Hindu that earlier as part of the verification process the Mangaluru Rural police had entered various forms of names of applicants in the police database and did not find them as accused in the harassment case. Accordingly police report was submitted online.

After the reports accusing jurisdictional police of deliberately giving a false verification report, the police checked the passports of Siddiq and Shabana and did not find any stamps on their passport about their foreign travel.

The applicants were questioned afresh and police database was checked by mentioning the spelling as mentioned in the FIR. “We recently found the harassment case. On Saturday, October 26, a letter was written to ARPO, Mangaluru, in this regard and asking the official to take appropriate action,” the police official said.

Courtesy: The Hindu