Police in Kashmir have begun pursuit to arrest legislator Shabir Ahmad Khan, who resigned from the Council of Ministers, on Friday after a woman doctor filed a sexual assault case against him.
Speaker Mubarak Gul has has given his nod for the arrest of the disgraced legislator after the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Srinagar issued a formal arrest warrant. Khan held independent charge of health portfolio as Minister of State and was considered as a powerful leader of the Congress in Jammu’s Rajouri region.
Soon after the expose of his sexual escapade, the Congress High Command asked Khan to put in his papers. Governor NN Vohra accepted his resignation late on Friday. The woman doctor alleged that the Minister summoned her to his office in Srinagar on January 28 afternoon through his staff and made livid remarks after forcing her to meet him in a cabin annexed to his office chambers. The doctor described the Minister as “sexual predator”.
A case was registered under Section 354 of Ranbir Panel Code (assault or criminal force on a woman with the intention to outrage her chastity) and Section 509 RPC (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) against him.
Police said that Khan has gone in hiding and they have sent special teams to Jammu and Delhi to track him down. Khan’s counsel attempted to seek bail from the High Court in Jammu on Friday but the plea was rejected.
Meanwhile, doctors in Kashmir observed a day-long strike demanding arrest of Khan. “The resignation of Minister is not enough. He should be immediately arrested. He has not spared an officer level doctor. It explains what could have been his treatment with other women doctors,” a veiled lady doctor who participated in a demonstration at Sri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital said.
The doctors have threatened to suspend work in hospitals completely if the former Minister was not arrested immediately.