Madrasah head accused of kidnapping student after she rejects his romantic proposal

The director and headteacher of a madrasah in Gazipur’s Sadar upazila have been accused of kidnapping a Class Eight student. The girl’s father filed a case against five people at Joydebpur Police Station on Sunday night.

The prime accused is Ariful Islam, 29, who runs two madrasahs in the Joydebpur police station area and serves as their headteacher. The other accused are his brother, Sharif Mia, 35; their father, Selim Mia, 55; their mother, Rahima Khatun, 40; and a man named Delwar Hossain, 45.

According to the case statement, all the accused are from Char Bawla village in Mymensingh Sadar upazila. The student was in Class Eight at a girls’ madrasah run by Ariful Islam.

He allegedly made romantic advances towards her and harassed her in various ways. When she refused his advances, he threatened to kidnap her.

After the student told her family about the matter, they asked Ariful to stop such behaviour. Angered by this, he allegedly continued to intimidate and threaten them.

The case statement says that on the morning of 10 October, after the student arrived at the madrasah, Ariful allegedly took her away by force with the help of his associates.

After learning about the incident through various sources, the girl’s father searched several possible locations. Unable to find his daughter, he eventually filed a case with the police.

The girl’s father said his daughter went missing after leaving for the madrasah, as she did every day, at around 7:30 am. He later learned that the accused teacher, Ariful Islam, had allegedly kidnapped her with the help of others.

Joydebpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Al Mamun confirmed the case and said police were conducting operations to rescue the student and arrest the accused.