Abdul Majid
Early Times Report
Srinagar, July 21: A prominent Kashmir-born physiotherapist is hogging the headlines world over not for his achievements in his field of expertise but for sexual assaults on women.
Five complaints of sexual abuse have been reported against Dr Aijaz Bashir Ashai from Mumbai alone, where he is based, while a similar complaint has been reported from Belfast, Ireland.
Barely two days after a Mumbai-based newspaper reported about Ashai's alleged sexual assault on a masseuse in Belfast, a member of one of south Mumbai's oldest and most prominent families, has alleged that Dr Ashai raped her at his Opera House clinic in October 2013.
According to news reports, the 47-year-old woman, who was seeking treatment for back pain, did not file a police complaint because she was too traumatised and was also aware that Dr Ashai counted powerful actors and sportsmen among his friends.
Among his many other celebrity assignments, Dr Ashai has worked with the Mumbai Ranji team and actor Sohail Khan's Celebrity Cricket League franchise. While Ashai continues to enjoy the patronage of the high and mighty in Mumbai, reports say that he was asked to leave Saifee Hospital after two of his patients filed separate complaints of molestation against him way back in 2013. The patients, who had filed police complaints too, did not pursue the cases after the hospital took prompt action against Dr Ashai.
Besides patients, his colleagues too had allegedly been his victims. At Saifee Hospital, two of Dr Ashai's female colleagues had complained of sexual harassment, and their grievances were also taken into account while acting against him.
It was at the Saifee Hospital that this woman from the prominent south Mumbai family met Dr Ashai, and after he was asked to leave the hospital, began to see him for her back problem at his Opera House clinic.
The accused physiotherapist is charged of similar crime in Europe. Dr Ashai, hired during the Nepalese team's 15-day preparation tour of India for the ongoing ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers, has been charged of sexually assaulting a hotel masseuse.
Ashai's lawyer has admitted that his client attended the massage at Ireland hotel but denied the charges of sexual assault on the masseuse.
Reports said Ashai appeared at the Ards Magistrates Court last Wednesday after spending a night in custody. He has been sacked by the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) over his conduct. Described as "an expert in the field of advanced physiotherapy" by his LinkedIn profile, Ashai has been granted bail for £2,500 on the condition the Nepalese team lodge a cash surety and also that he reside at the Strangford Arms, make no contact with witnesses, report to police thrice a week and give up his passport. The matter has been adjourned to August 12, reports said.
Ashai's expertise is highly sought after in the sports world. He has reportedly aided famous personalities like cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar, tennis players Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi and squash player Ritwick Bhattacharya.
Currently he is the Head Physiotherapist for the celebrity cricket league (Mumbai Heroes), Indian Rugby Team, the West Zone Deodhar Cricket Team and the Chairman of Auxiliary Committee of Indian Association of Physiotherapy. He also runs his own fitness and sports rehabilitation centre in Mumbai. Ashai could not be contacted for comment, but his relatives back home in the Valley dismissed the allegations against him as baseless.
"Those jealous of his fame are behind this all. He is a man of repute but is being victimized for being a Kashmiri Muslim," they said. |
