A 25-year-old Maulana/madrasa teacher was arrested for indulging in unnatural rape with at least ten minor students in Gujarat’s Junagadh. He was the Urdu teacher at the madrasa and raped the innocent students inside Madarsa.

In addition to the maulana, a 55-year-old trustee of the madrasa was also apprehended for neglecting the students’ complaints against the teacher, as confirmed by a statement from Junagadh Police on Monday (October 23). The teacher was located in hiding in Surat and taken into custody, while the madrasa trustee, who had managed to escape, was held in Junagadh.

Based on a complaint submitted by a 17-year-old boy, the Mangrol police registered an FIR on Sunday against both accused, invoking sections 377 (unnatural intercourse), 323 (assault), 506-2 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, and pertinent provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The incident came to light when a student from the residential school, situated on the Mangrol-Veraval bypass, used a teacher’s mobile phone to contact his mother and report the maulana’s inappropriate actions with students. Subsequently, the woman approached the police and filed a complaint alleging that the madrasa teacher was involved in sexually assaulting students residing and studying in the school.

On October 21, the police visited the madrasa premises and, with the assistance of some Muslim leaders, gained the trust of the students. Ten boys studying at the madrasa stated that they had been subjected to these acts by the maulana, who had also threatened to kill them if they reported the incidents to their parents.

Furthermore, the students said that when they approached the madrasa’s trustee to file a complaint, he took no action in response. As the trustee realized that a case would be filed against the teacher, he aided the teacher in fleeing the area.

Junagadh’s Superintendent of Police, Harshad Mehta, visited the madrasa as part of the investigation and assured the parents of the students that the police would conduct a fair and unbiased inquiry into the matter.

This is an alarming concern, as on a monthly basis, there are reports of 10-15 distressing cases emerging from various Madarsas across the country involving clerics engaging in sexual exploitation of underage children. The documented cases of 10-15 are the ones officially reported to the police, but the actual count could be higher, given that many individuals refrain from lodging complaints due to fear and the associated social stigma linked to such occurrences.