Being the in-charge of the dormitory, Nasir Uddin preyed on the minor students of the Rangunia madrasa
Tales of horrifying child sexual abuse have begun to unfold with the arrest of a madrasa teacher in Chittagong’s Rangunia upazila.
The police arrested the rapist identified as Md Nasir Uddin, 38, after a guardian had filed a case with Rangunia police station on Monday evening for raping his 11-year old son.
He is also accused of raping three other students of the same institution.
One of the rape survivors said that Nasir used to rape many of them and would rape one of the boys every night.
Two years ago, Nasir joined Ahmadiyya Azizul Ulum Madrasa as a teacher. He was also serving as the in-charge of the student dormitory.
Mahbub Milki, officer-in-charge of Rangunia police station told Dhaka Tribune that the accused teacher was produced before court where he gave a confessional statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“Later, the court ordered the accused teacher be sent to jail. The four students were sent to Chittagong Medical College Hospital [CMCH] for medical tests on Tuesday,” he said.
“The court of Metropolitan Magistrate Shiplu Kumar Dey also recorded the four rape victims’ statements under section 22 of the Prevention of Women and Children Repression Act,” added the OC.
Father of a victim who lodged the rape case told this correspondent that his son has been studying at the madrasa for the last one year.
“On Monday, my son fled from the madrasa and insisted on not going back there as his teacher violated him. At first, I did not take it seriously. Later, the police went to the madrasa and quizzed another student and found the allegation to be true,” said the father, a rickshaw-van puller by profession.
He also said: “We used to respect the teacher a lot. It was beyond my wildest imagination that a teacher could rape his student. The four students of the madrasa said that the teacher used to inflict inhuman torture on them if they did not agree to his immoral acts.”
“The head of the madrasa cannot avoid his responsibility in connection with the incidents. I will not let my son study at the Madrasa any longer,” he said adding that the teacher should be given exemplary punishment.
To a question, a rape survivor told this correspondent that they could not pluck up the courage to complain against the teacher to the madrasa principal.
“He [Nasir] used to threaten us with dire consequences if we dared to disclose his immoral acts. The teacher also raped four other boys of the madrasa. He used to rape a boy every night,” said the survivor, adding that a boy once complained against the teacher but the principal shrugged off the allegation.
“A total of 30 students from low-income backgrounds stay at the dormitory of the madrasa. Others pay Tk1000 but I pay Tk500 in exchange for the dining and lodging at the madrasa,” the survivor said.
Md Anwar Hossan, Chittagong assistant superintendent of police (Rangunia Circle) said the teacher preyed on minor children taking advantage of his superintendent post of the student dormitory.
He said: “Of the victims, only four students went to the court and gave statements. The guardians of other students of the madrasa told us that their children were sexually abused by the teacher but they do not want to lodge any complaint fearing social stigma.”
“The students do not have the courage to speak up against the abuse as they are mostly orphans and from low-income background,” said the ASP, adding that the parents should keep a vigilant eye on their children so that they do not become victims of sexual abuse.
