Kerala-based YouTube vlogger Shakir Subhan, popularly known by his social media name ‘Mallu Traveller’, has been booked by the police for alleged sexual assault of a Saudi Arabian woman. The woman, also a vlogger, filed a complaint in the Ernakulam Central police station on September 13, alleging that Shakir molested her when she went to meet him at a hotel in Kochi along with her partner.
The woman and her partner were in Ernakulam for an event when they met Shakhir at his hotel. She said that Shakir invited them to his room, after which the alleged incident happened. “We went to meet Shakhir for casual talk at the lobby of the hotel. Then Shakhir invited us to his room. While we were in his room, [my partner] went outside of the room and then Shakhir molested me,” she said in a video that she later uploaded on YouTube.
In the video, she said that Shakhir molested her repeatedly despite her pushing him away. “I pushed him away from me and asked, ‘Why are you touching my body without my permission?’ He answered, ‘I am a man. I have horny feelings and want to have sex with you.’ I went away from him,” she said.
She added that she did not inform her partner of the assault then and there fearing he would get into a fight with Shakir, and told him only later. She also said that she had reported the incident to the Saudi embassy in Delhi, as well as the Saudi consulate in Mumbai, and also filed a police complaint.
Thanking the officials for taking immediate action on the complaint, she said, “My father is a government officer. I studied law and I have a Bachelor’s degree in Law. No one has the right to touch anybody's body without their permission.”
The woman vlogger also said that she never thought she would have to face such an incident in India. “Malayalis accepted me as their daughter-in-law and Indians consider guests as equal to god, as I hear this ‘aditi devo bhava’. This happened to me in India — I never thought such an incident would happen to me in such a country. This is the very first time that anyone has dared to touch my body without my permission. I have a message for girls, especially those in Kerala. If you have faced any type of molestation by Shakhir or by anyone else, please do not hesitate to speak and go to the police to complain,” she said.
Based on her complaint, the Ernakulam Central police registered a First Information Report under Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Reacting to the case, Shakir Subhan said that the complaint was fake. In a video posted on his channel Mallu Traveller with over 2.7 million followers on YouTube, he explained that the couple texted him on Instagram saying that they were his fans. “When I was attending a social media influencers' event in Kochi, they contacted me for a meeting. After the event, several people came to meet me. My brother was there with me at that time and I was almost asleep when the couple reached my room. That was when my brother left. They claimed that they were completely broke and sought my help with money and social media promotions,” he said.
Shakir further said that the couple came together and left together, denying the woman’s allegations. “I suspect this is a honey trap against me,” he said, adding that he will disprove the charges against him once he returns from Canada.