A 27-year-old South African at the World Social Forum in Mumbai has accused a fellow delegate of raping her.

The woman, who is staying at a hotel in south Mumbai, alleged that a 53-year-old man raped her in his room on Sunday morning.

The alleged rapist, South African high court judge Sirajjuddin Desai, has been arrested, police said. The victim, the police added, is a project manager of AIDS Awareness Resources Trust in South Africa.

Medical tests have been conducted on the judge and the victim, police said, adding that material evidence seized from the room has been sent to forensic laboratory.

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The judge was produced before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate B A Shellar, who remanded him to police custody till January 23.

The accused made an oral plea for bail but the magistrate said he had no powers to grant bail for the first seven days in police remand and that Desai would have to move the sessions court for liberty.

His lawyer C S Irani, who denied the charge in the court, told reporters later that he may move the sessions court on Tuesday for bail.

The police told the court that Desai had admitted having raped the victim, but the defence lawyer denied the accused had committed the offence.

According to a remand application submitted by the police to the court, the judge and the victim had gone to a pub late Saturday and returned to the hotel at 0215 IST on Sunday.

They went to their respective rooms but after some time the judge called the lady to his room and allegedly forced her to have sex with her, police said.

The police claimed they were in possession of the condom used by the accused.

However, Desai's lawyer denied that his client had raped the victim saying if it were so then how the condom was given to the police by the victim herself. He denied allegations of rape and said the victim's complaint was a 'fabricated' story.
According to the police the couple had gone out on Saturday night. After partying when they went to the man's room he allegedly raped her, the police added.

WSF organising committee member Gautam Modi told rediff.com: "We are shocked that such an incident happened. We have extended all support to the girl. We are concerned about security and have asked the police to improve security at the hotel."