HARIPUR: The police have arrested a local seminary teacher for allegedly molesting a student, Sera-i-Saleh police station SHO Sidiq Shah said on Friday.

He quoted a widow of Kholiyan Bala village as saying that she had brought her nephew, 15, to live with her three years ago. She said she had admitted him to a madressah in Mohallah Parao to learn Quran.

On Friday morning, she said he got back from madressah sad, and refused to go back there in the afternoon despite repeated calls from the seminary teacher. The woman said when she asked why he was not going back to the seminary, the boy disclosed that his seminary teacher, namely Qari Uzair, beat him up over a minor mistake and forced him to go to his bedroom inside the seminary.

1The woman said the teacher locked his room from inside and raped the boy. She said the man had raped him several times during the last six months and threatened him of consequences if he disclosed the incident to anyone.

The complainant said the suspect had attempted to strike a compromise with the victim’s family through a jirga, but when the family declined, he fled the medressah.

The police registered a case against the suspect under section 377 of PPC and 53 of Child Protection Act and arrested him.

The SHO said the preliminary medical examination report confirmed the offence.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2022