Madrassa teacher arrested in molestation case

HARIPUR: Police have arrested a local madrassa teacher for allegedly molesting a student in the limits of Sera-e-Saleh Police Station, police said here on Friday.

Saeeda Bibi of Kholiyan Bala village told the Sera-e-Saleh police station personnel that she was a widow and had brought his nephew (brother’s son) Abdullah (15) to live with her about three years ago. She said she had admitted his nephew in a local madrassa titled “Maktab Taleemul Quran” in Mohallah Parao of the same village to learn the Holy Quran by heart.

On Friday morning, the youngster got back from the madrassa but refused to go back in the afternoon despite calls from the madrassa teacher. She said that when she insisted on sharing the reasons, the boy disclosed that Qari Uzair, who was teaching him to memorise the Holy Quran, beat him over a minor mistake of reading and asked him to go to his bed room as punishment that was built separately within the precincts of the madrassa.

The complainant told the police quoting her nephew as saying that when Abdullah entered Qari Uzair’s room, he came shortly within a few minutes and locked the room from inside before molesting him.

The victim disclosed that the alleged paedophile had raped him several times during the last six months and threatened him with dire consequences if the matter was disclosed to anyone. The complainant told the police that the accused had attempted to strike a compromise with the victim’s family through a local jirga but when the family declined, he fled the madrassa.

The police registered a criminal case against Qari Uzair under sections 377 of the PPC and 53 of the Child Protection Act and arrested him. According to SHO, the preliminary medical examination report has confirmed the offense of rape against the teenage student.