Kochi: Soon after a celebrity tattoo artist in Kochi was arrested following complaints of sexual assault, a leading bridal makeup artist in the city too is facing similar charges from his clients.
Based on the e-mail complaints from three young women to the Kochi City Police Commissioner, the Palarivattom police on Friday registered a case against Anez Anzare, who was running the 'Anez Anzare Unisex Salon Bridal Makeup Studio' at Chalikkavattom at Vyttila.
A few days ago, one among the victims had described her bitter experience at Anzare’s studio when she went there for her bridal makeup. She said that in 2019, she had booked for makeup at the studio for her wedding. A week before the function, Anzare asked her to reach the place for a trial makeup.
When the bride arrived at the studio, Anzare disrobed her by force and spoke in an indecent manner, according to her Instagram post. The young woman said that she resisted his moves, cancelled the booking for bridal makeup and left the place.
After the post appeared, more young women came out with similar allegations. The bride who had first raised the allegation subsequently collected the experiences of the others and posted them again on her Instagram account. All the brides said that the harassment at Anzare’s studio had caused them severe mental agony on their wedding day.
These posts were noticed by the police. However, as no formal complaints were received, the police had not registered a case.
"After these posts appeared on social media, Anez Anzare fled from India. He is reportedly in Dubai now and we will be issuing lookout notices at all airports in the country," said a police officer.
Evidence collection over after Sujeesh's arrest
Meanwhile, the police said that the evidence collection related to the recent arrest of celebrity tattoo artist P S Sujeesh has been completed. His custody period too had ended on Friday.
He was arrested a week ago after one of his woman clients narrated how she was sexually abused at his parlour. Her #MeToo posts encouraged his other targets to open up.