Sexually assaulted 16-year-old girl after promising to cure illness through prayers; religious preacher arrested

KOLLAM: A young man, who is a vlogger and religious preacher, has been arrested in connection with the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. The accused has been identified as Mohammed Niyas Jauhari, director of Habibiyya Islamic Academy. He was arrested by the Karunagappally police in Kollam.

The accused allegedly sexually assaulted the girl after promising to cure her illness through prayers. According to the complaint, the girl, who had gone to meet him with her grandmother, was allegedly assaulted at different locations between 2025 and 2026.

In a separate case in Thiruvananthapuram, a priest has been sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 for sexually assaulting a woman after claiming that he could remove an evil spirit affecting her husband. The court also ordered that he undergo an additional year in prison if he fails to pay the fine.

The accused, Rajesh, a native of Puthukulagara in Ezhupunna, Alappuzha, and residing at Mekulam, Venkulam, Edava, was sentenced by Special Court Judge A. Shajahan, who hears cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Rajesh, who is the father of two children, had asked the woman to visit the temple for a special ritual to remove the alleged evil spirit affecting her husband. He sexually assaulted her inside the storeroom of the Vanamoorthy Balabhadra Devi Temple at Venkulam. The assault reportedly continued for several days over a period of two weeks. The incident took place in April 2016.