Attack on Muslim student in Ill. deemed bogus; alleged victim charged

Elmhurst, Ill. - A Muslim student who said a masked gunman assaulted her after he wrote anti-Islamic slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College was arrested Friday after an investigation concluded the attack never happened.

A week after the case roiled the small college, Elmhurst Police Chief Steven Neubauer said Safia Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook had been booked on a felony charge of filing a false police report, which is punishable by 1 to 3 years in prison.

Jilani reported Oct. 9 that the man beat her with the gun in the college's science center, authorities said. Anti-Muslim graffiti was written on the wall, similar to a threat written on the same student's locker the previous week.

For more on this story, go to The Chicago Tribune. Also, for a moralizing, self-serving commentary reacting to the now-bogus attack, go to The Leader, EC's student newspaper, and EC's Website.