What this has shown is that child abuse is rampant in this country and needs to be dealt with.
Here are the cases of abuse in madrassas to bring attention to an extremely dangerous aspect of the issue in the country.
Mansehra – December 2019
A cleric, Qari Shamsuddin, was arrested along with four others for the abuse of a young boy in a madrassa.
According to reports, the boy was raped over 100 times and was even physically tortured by the assailants. The child had bruises all over his body and was even bleeding from his eyes.
The child is currently in a critical condition in a local hospital getting treatment.
Muzaffargarh – December 2019
The father of a child registered a case against a cleric of a local shrine.
The child came back crying from the shrine after which the father went to register an FIR with the police under section 377 and 53 of the Penal Code.
Peshawar - December 2019
A cleric accused of abusing a child in a madrassa has been acquitted by the court on the lack of evidence.
The defense said that the prosecution could not produce enough evidence through medical reports and through mobile location data.
They went on to say that the family falsely accused them of molesting their child because of some other dispute.
The prosecution even said that the mother of the abused was a liar and that they had done nothing wrong.
The case had started last year after the child’s family registered a FIR under section 377 and 53 of the Penal Code.
Lahore – October 2019
Cleric Mukhtar Ahmed was arrested by the police on charges of molesting children.
The cleric used to go to children’s homes to teach them Quran but was caught red handed by the parents of a child while he was attempting to molest them.
The incident took place in the Sanda area of Lahore.
Rawalpindi – September 2019
A cleric had been accused of molesting a 12-year-old child at a madrassa, a fact that was supported by medical evidence.
The FIR was registered by the victim’s father and the police even started the procedure for a DNA test to confirm.
The cleric and his supporters protested against this and chanted anti-police slogans.
The police also said that they will pursue the charge even if the parents have to back out because of social pressure.
June 2019
Two major incidents were reported from the city in this month.
First of all, the video of a cleric beating a child after hanging him upside down went viral on social media after which the police took interest in the case and started their investigation. According to the cleric involved, they had resolved the issue with the parents of the child and that this video was a year old.
Secondly, a cleric was arrested after he physically beat and raped children at a madrassa in Rawalpindi. The families of the children registered a FIR against the cleric involved. The cleric beat up the children when they went back to collect their belongings from the madrassa.
The cleric had also threatened the children that he would kill them if they spoke up.
Reportedly, the madrassa had plead to the families to not complain because it would threaten their reputation.