Man cleared of molesting boy during Quran lessons

Dubai: A man has been cleared of molesting an eight-year-old boy while giving him private lessons in reading the Quran at the child’s family house.

Citing lack of corroborated evidence, the Dubai of First Instance acquitted the 34-year-old Bangladeshi man, M.A., of molesting the Pakistani boy.

According to records, M.A. is a cook, but the boy’s father had hired him to teach his children to read the Quran in December.

The cook entered an innocent plea and strongly refuted what he described as unfounded accusations.

According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the suspect abused the fact that the children were with him in the sitting room and away from their parents when he molested the older boy.

The Pakistani father alleged to prosecutors that he hired the man to give his children private lessons thrice a week on how to read the Quran.

“He used to teach my kids in the sitting room every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. My wife used to check up on the suspect and our children every now and then. On the day the incident happened, my son told me that the suspect groped him. My boy claimed to me that the suspect did that several times. I informed the police,” claimed the father.

A police lieutenant claimed that the suspect was detained a week after the father’s complaint.

“The father claimed that the suspect is an imam of a mosque… yet following his arrest, we discovered that he was hired as a cook by an Emirati sponsor. During questioning, the suspect admitted that he taught the children how to read the Quran but denied molesting the boy or touching him indecently,” he claimed to prosecutors.

The court dismissed prosecutors’ accusations and acquitted the suspect.

Tuesday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.