With accounts of such horrors becoming a constant with the Madrasas, yet another heinous incident was reported by ANI in which Maulana of a Madarsa has been arrested for sexually assaulting his students in Katraj, Pune. A total of 36 students have been rescued, and a case registered against the cleric.
Maulana of a Madarsa has been arrested for sexually assaulting his students in Katraj, Pune. Total 36 students have been rescued. We have registered a case against him. Further investigation underway: Milind Gaikwad, Inspector #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/tQYNANNLFa
— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2018
Kondhwa police inspector, Milind Gaikwad, said, “Maulana of a Madarsa has been arrested for sexually assaulting his students in Katraj, Pune. A total of 36 students have been rescued. We have registered a case against him. Further investigation underway.”
The gruesome incident came to light when two children were spotted alone by the Railway Police Force (RPF) at the Pune Railway Station. The RPF informed an NGO named ‘Saathi’ that works towards child rescue and rehabilitation.
The police team with the help of child rights activists raided Jamia Amubhuja Darul Yatama situated in RK colony, Katraj Kondhwa.
This particular Madrasa in Pune’s Katraj suburb, Maharashtra houses students aged 5 to 14 years.
A maulana named Rahim has been arrested so far, confirmed the Bharati Vidyapeeth police station. An FIR has been registered against him under Juvenile Justice and POCSO Act. Rahim has been accused by two children who are natives of Bihar’s Bhagalpur district.
Both the children fled the madrasa on 23rd July and were found loitering around the railway station while they were spotted by the RPF. Saathi took the two kids to ‘Balkalyan Samiti’ where they were counselled.
This is not the first time reports of such crimes involving Maulvi’s and various Madrasas have surfaced. In May this year, it was reported that a Madrasa teacher was arrested in Hyderabad for sexually abusing six minor children. He taught Arabic at the Madrasa and had been identified by the police as 22-year-old Mohammed Rehan Ansari.
Apart from this, it was recently reported how a young girl was raped in a Madrasa and the victim and her family were left traumatised when Islamists demanded that the victim is married off to her rapist. In another incident, a Maulvi was arrested for kidnapping and holding a minor girl captive in his Madrasa in Ghaziabad. 67-year-old Maulvi, Zakir Alam was also arrested for sexual assault on an 8-year-old child in a Madrasa at Narela, Delhi. In December, the UP police had raided a Madrasa in Lucknow’s Shahadatganj area, where girls were allegedly held hostage and molested by the Madarsa’s manager. A total of 51 girls were rescued by the police during the raid and the manager was also arrested. In 2015 it was reported that a Madarsa teacher in Kozhikode, Kerala was arrested over charges of him sexually abusing a minor girl.
This is yet another outrageous incident in a long row of heinous crimes that have surfaced in the recent past.
