On October 10, a case of rape of a madarsa student came to light in district Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. Reports suggest that the cleric of the madarsa lured the student on the pretext of marriage. Later, when she got pregnant, he got the abortion done. The victim became a student of a madarsa around four years ago in Bahedi that comes under Sheeshgarh Police Station. She had a classmate identified as Ubaysh Hafiz, who later became a maulvi in the same madarsa.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Bareilly, said that after some time, she fell in love with Maulvi Ubaish Hafeez. On the pretext of marriage, Maulvi raped the girl multiple times. Whenever she asked him about marriage, he would avoid the question and told her to wait for some more time.
थाना शीशगढ़, जनपद बरेली पर अभियोग पंजीकृत कर विवेचनात्मक कार्यवाही प्रचलित है।
— Bareilly Police (@bareillypolice) October 10, 2021
Meanwhile, the girl got pregnant. When she informed the cleric, he forced her to have an abortion. When she went to his house with her family members, Maulvi threatened to kill and chased her away. Speaking to OpIndia, the station in-charge, Sheeshgarh Police Station, said that a case had been registered against the accused under 356, 376, 313, 504 and 506. Maulvi Hafiz is currently absconding, and efforts are on to nab him.
Several cases of clerics being involved in similar crimes
In July this year, Nileshwar Police, district Kasaragod, Kerala, had arrested a 50-year-old madarsa teacher for repeatedly raping and sexually abusing his 16-year-old daughter for two years. He was also accused of getting his daughter raped by other men.
Mufti Musharraf of district Tumakuru, Karnataka, was recently found guilty of having unnatural sex with a minor boy six years ago. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by a special court in Bengaluru. Reports suggest that he had raped a minor child in a madarsa in April 2015. Originally hailing from Uttar Pradesh, maulvi Musharraf’s act came to light when the child’s mother went to meet him in Madarsa. He told his mother that Musharraf had indulged in unnatural sex with him and asked her to take him back home.