Madressah teacher in KP’s Haripur held for allegedly sexually abusing student: police

Haripur police on Thursday arrested a madressah teacher for allegedly sexually abusing a visually-impaired five-year-old child in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Haripur area, police said.

A first information report (FIR) — available with Dawn.com — was filed by the victim’s uncle at Saddar police station on July 10 under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (rape) and Section 53 (sexual abuse) of the KP Child Protection Act (CPA).

The complainant alleged in the FIR that the child, after feeling pain, told their mother about the incident and said that he was sexually abused by the teacher in his room in the mosque.

“The child is visually impaired and just five years old,” the complainant stated in the FIR, demanding legal action against the suspect.

According to a statement issued by Haripur District Police Officer Farhan, after the incident, he actively engaged the team at Saddar police station, who successfully arrested the suspect.

“Under the supervision of DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) Saddar Muhammad Arif, SHO Inspector Akhtar Hussain, along with the investigation team and other police personnel, arrested the [suspect],” the statement read.

The DPO’s statement added that the investigation is ongoing.

As many as 3,364 child abuse cases were reported from all four provinces, the Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan in the year 2024, according to a civil society report.

The report Cruel Numbers 2024 by Sahil was prepared based on data collected from 81 national and regional newspapers across the country.

“The objective of the report is to present the data on the situation regarding violence against children (up to 18 years) in cases of sexual abuse, abduction/kidnapping, missing children, and child marriages,” the report stated.