A video of a controversial Islamic cleric from Kerala has gone viral in which he was seen making derogatory comments against women, reports Communemag.
In a video that has gone viral now, Maulana Swalih Bathery, a famous cleric in Kerala, was heard saying that those women going out at night after 9 PM are nothing but prostitutes, and they should be killed.
In the controversial video, Salih reportedly justified rapist Govindachamy who had raped and killed a girl named Soumya in 2011. The cleric criticised the judgement and the judge who heard the Soumya case. According to Swalih, Govindachamy had said that he raped Soumya because she was travelling at night, and according to him, every girl travelling at night was a prostitute.
Soumya, who worked at a mall in Ernakulam, was attacked and robbed when she was returning home by train by serial offender Govindachamy. Govindachamy jumped off the train after her, hit her with a stone and raped her. The victim had died five days later.
In 2016, the SC had set aside the death sentence granted to the accused and reduced it to only a 7-year prison sentence for rape. The investigation had failed to establish a water-tight case of murder against the accused.
The 27-year-old cleric Swalih Bathery, who suffers from a medical condition called Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) or the “Benjamin Button” disease, looks like a child. However, Swalih Bathery is known for making many such controversial statements.
