Seven-year-old boy sexually abused for six months in Savar

Within about three weeks of starting his education at a madrasa, a seven-year-old boy was raped and sexually abused by an older fellow student. Another student at the madrasah learned about the abuse and later raped the boy as well.

Over time, three more students from the same madrasa became involved in sexually abusing the child at different times. The accused students are all teenagers.

At one point, a teacher at the madrasa also raped the child. The boy had turned to the teacher for protection after being abused by fellow students. The incidents took place at a madrasa in Savar, on the outskirts of the capital, beginning in February.

The boy’s father has since filed a case with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal. Five students and five teachers from the madrasa have been named as defendants.

One teacher has been accused of rape, while four others allegedly beat the child instead of taking action after hearing his account of the abuse. The madrasa’s director has been accused of failing to take action and instead giving the accused an opportunity to flee.

The boy’s parents told Prothom Alo that an assistant teacher had warned their son not to tell anyone about the incidents. The teacher allegedly told him that if he spoke out, he would never be promoted from the maktab to the hifz section, would fail his examinations and would never become a hafiz of the Quran.

The boy had told another assistant teacher about the sexual abuse by his teacher and fellow students. That teacher beat him, accusing him of lying. He also threatened to beat the child even more severely if he told his parents.

On the evening of 2 September, Prothom Alo spoke to the boy’s father at their home. In a tearful voice, he said, “In February, my wife and I enrolled our son at the madrasa.

Everything was fine for the first 20 to 22 days. After that, he was sexually abused at different times. First by students and later by a teacher. I filed a case, but I have not received justice.”

The boy’s father said that after learning about the incidents, he went to the madrasa at around 10:30pm on 15 August with his son and several acquaintances. He told the madrasa’s muhtamim (director) in detail what had happened. The director also listened to the child.

After hearing the details, the director asked the boy’s father not to file a case with the police or tell anyone about the incident, promising that the accused would be punished. He also assured the father that police would be called to the madrasa and those involved would be sent to jail.

The boy’s father returned to the madrasa the following day, 16 August. He asked which police station the people involved in the crime had been handed over to. The director said the accused had already been punished. They had been beaten with shoes and expelled from the madrasa, he said, and asked the boy’s father not to take any further action.

Meanwhile, the child became physically ill. His father took him to a physician. After examining the child, the doctor advised him to take the boy to Savar Upazila Health Complex.

On 18 August, the boy was taken there and, on the advice of doctors, was transferred the same day to the One-Stop Crisis Centre (OCC) at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His father said the child received treatment there and was taken home on 20 August.

The boy’s father said, “They have ruined my son’s life. My son’s future is over. He is now mentally ill. I had sent him to the madrasa with great hopes. Students and teachers together raped and abused my son for six long months. I want proper justice.”

The boy’s father works at a garment factory in Savar. He borrowed money to pay for his son’s treatment. He can no longer afford to continue the treatment because of financial constraints.

What the case says

On 23 August, the boy’s father filed a case against 10 people, including the madrasah’s muhtamim (director), at the court of Judge Masrur Salequin of the Dhaka Child Violence Prevention Tribunal. The child’s account of the abuse was included in the case statement.

According to the case, on the evening of 21 February, a student forcibly took the boy to a toilet and raped him for the first time. When the child cried, he was threatened with death. Another student witnessed the incident.

Later, at 6:00 am on 24 February, another student took the boy into a toilet and raped him. A few days later, another student learned about the matter and raped him as well. In total, five students allegedly raped the child.

After learning about the incidents, the accused listed as no. 6 in the case, an assistant teacher at the madrasah, moved the boy’s bed next to his own. Later, at midnight on 4 July, the teacher also raped the child.

According to the case statement, he continued sexually abusing the boy regularly afterward. It says that whenever the child cried during the abuse, the teacher would cover his mouth and threaten him.

At one point, on 5 July, the boy told another assistant teacher about the abuse. That teacher beat him with a cane and threatened to expel him from the madrasa if he told his parents.

Another assistant teacher also beat the child the following day. The boy later complained to the head of the madrasah’s maktab section, but according to the case statement, he did not take the matter seriously.

What the madrasa authorities say     

When Prothom Alo visited the madrasa in Savar on the afternoon of 2 September, students were seen studying in the madrasa mosque and two buildings. Students in the maktab section were studying on the ground floor of the first three-storey building. At night, the students sleep there on beds laid out side by side.

Two teenage defendants, listed as accused no. 3 and no. 5 in the case, were found there. None of the accused teachers were present. The two students told Prothom Alo that they were not involved in the incident.

Prothom Alo spoke with the madrasa’s accountant, three teachers and six people involved in its management. They said one of the accused students left the madrasa in May and another left three or four days ago.

Another student also left without enrolling. The teacher directly accused of rape has been absent from the madrasah since 15 August. The two teachers accused of beating and threatening the victim instead of taking action were also absent.

One of the accused teachers, who has been accused of beating the child, denied the allegation. The madrasa’s chief accountant said the ages of several students had been stated in the case as higher than their actual ages. He said that if an investigation proves the accused committed the offences, they should be punished according to law.

On the night of 2 September, Prothom Alo spoke to the madrasa’s director by phone. He said, “They are saying this went on for six months; the child did not tell his father or his mother, and it continued for six months—is that possible? Can this really happen? To me, all of this seems quite implausible. Even so, I have full respect for the law. If this really happened, then it was certainly against the Quran and Sunnah. If anyone is truly guilty, I want the matter to be investigated and for that person to be fully punished under the Quran and Sunnah or under the laws of the country.”

Five accused arrested

Police arrested five accused in the case from different parts of the country yesterday, Friday, and today, Saturday. Police said some of them had admitted to the offences during preliminary questioning. Dhaka District Additional Superintendent of Police (Savar Circle) Rakibul Hasan briefed journalists on the matter at Savar Model Police Station at around noon today.

At the press briefing, he said teams from Savar Model Police Station, Ashulia Police Station and the Detective Branch conducted raids in Barguna, Bhola, Sirajganj, Gazipur and Dhaka and arrested the accused.

According to a police press release, three of the arrested accused are students of the madrasa, aged 12, 13 and 15. The other two arrested accused are teachers at the madrasa.