Kasaragod: Central University of Kerala Assistant Professor Efthikar Ahamed B has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Vismaya Amusement Park at Parassinikadavu near Kannur.
Taliparamba Station House Office-Inspector Benny Lalu ML said Efthikar Ahamed has been remanded in custody and is now lodged in Kannur District Jail.
According to the FIR, Efthikar Ahamed (51), who teaches English at the Central University of Kerala, groped a 22-year-old woman from Malappuram in the wave pool of the amusement park Monday afternoon. "Both the woman and Efthikar Ahamed were in the park with their respective families. They did not know each other," said the officer.
Around 2.30 pm, Taliparamba police got a call from the park. "We went there, took the woman's statement and arrested Efthikar Ahamed," said Inspector Lalu. He has been charged with Section 354 (assaulting or using criminal force to outrage woman's modesty) and Section 354 A (1) (i) (sexual harassment by physical contact and advances) of the Indian Penal Code.
If convicted, he may face simple imprisonment from one year to five years or rigorous imprisonment up to three years. Around 1.45 pm on Monday, Efthikar Ahamed posted videos and photographs of his trip to the amusement park on Facebook with the caption: 'Family time, best time'.
He is already facing sexual harassment charges from the university's first-year students of the Department of English and Comparative Literature for giving lewd classes under the garb of poetry lessons.
Bekal police had charged him with Section 354 of IPC for molesting a student who fainted in class while writing an exam on November 13.
The university suspended him and revoked the suspension after nearly three months but suspended him again soon after coming to know that the High Court had banned him from entering Hosdurg taluk for two months till March as a condition for his bail.
Vice-Chancellor in-charge Prof Baiju K C revoked the suspension again with the condition that he should not teach the first-year students who are the complainants. A departmental enquiry against him is on.
However, the students were not happy with the administration's decision.
On May 3, the Vice-Chancellor in charge transferred Efthikar Ahamed to the Department of Education from the Department of English, after the survivor met Union Minister Smriti Irani.
Student organisations such as SFI and NSUI have demanded the dismissal of Efthikar Ahamed from service saying he was 'addicted to sexual perversion' and a 'perpetual offender'.