A Texas woman says a chiropractor sexually assaulted her when she was heavily pregnant and seeking help for back pain.
In a lawsuit filed this week, the woman claims Junaid Farooqui molested her in March of 2016 at the Central Health Clinic in Richardons, just outside of Dallas, as first reported by the Dallas News.
He appears to be a serial offender, having been arrested twice last year on charges related to sexual misconduct.
The alleged victim was just six days from giving birth when she went to the clinic seeking relief from sciatica pain. Instead, she was assaulted as her mother and son waited in another room, she claims.
In a lawsuit filed this week, a woman claims Junaid Farooqui (pictured molested her in March of 2016 at the Central Health Clinic in Richardon when she was heavily pregnant
During the consultation in question, Farooqui allegedly asked the woman to put on a hospital gown and said he would perform a cervical exam to see how dilated she was.
The woman noted his office was equipped similarly to a gynecology office.
Because she had never visited a chiropractor before, she didn’t know if a cervical exam was standard procedure, but felt assured by the fact the nurse who was in the room didn’t seem alarmed.
The nurse, as well as Central Health Clinic and Cottonwood Park Business, is also listed in the lawsuit.
Farooqui eventually told the nurse he wanted to finish examining the alleged victim alone because she was a ‘special case’ and moved her to another room, the suit claims.
The chiropractor allegedly told the woman he had to cover her backside because it was ‘distracting him’, that she was beautiful and needed to get a divorce (stock photo)
Once she was left alone with the chiropractor, he allegedly asked her to lie on the examination table and told her he had to cover her backside because ‘it was distracting him’.
Farooqui examined her hands and feet and then moved her to yet another room, which the lawsuit describes as only being illuminated by a nightlight.
There he allegedly told the woman she was beautiful and needed to leave her husband, before claiming her baby was in the wrong position and he would have to perform a ‘prenatal massage’ to loosen her vaginal walls.
Then, the chiropractor began to rub her genitals, immediately alarming the woman who asked him why he was doing it.
‘I do this so often that I have women that find this so relaxing that they have a release. It is OK if you do that,’ Farooqui said, according to the lawsuit.
The alleged victim refused to comply and sat up, as Farooqui claimed he had done nothing wrong and left the room.
She cleaned the oils he had rubbed on her, feeling ‘dirty and used’, and left the establishment.
The woman’s lawsuit says she gave birth just six days after the alleged incident and was later informed that her baby had never been in the wrong position.
Farooqui was arrested twice last year on charges related to sexual misconduct (Pictured is the Richardons Police Department)
She claims the birth was ‘clouded by the guilt and shame she was experiencing’ after being assaulted and was fired from her job after she began experiencing panic attacks from the trauma.
According to the lawsuit, which seeks $200,000 to $1 million in damages, there are ‘at least three other women who had also filed similar complaints’ against the chiropractor.
Last September, Farooqui was charged with three counts of sexual assault and after being released on bail was taken into custody again in December on charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact and assault.
He posted bail again and was released, and is currently awaiting trial on those charges, according to records obtained by the Dallas News.
Farooqui’s licence was suspended last October over the woman’s claims.
If he is found guilty of the criminal charges he faces, his licence will be revoked.