Jammu cleric rapes minor inside madrasa, arrested
AFTER RAPING THE MINOR GIRL, THE CLERIC HAD ASKED HER NOT TO DISCLOSE IT THREATENING HER OF DIRE CONSEQUENCES
JAMMU: Another rape of a minor, this time by a moulvi (cleric) inside a madrasa (Islamic school), in Nagrota area of Jammu district on Monday, has sent shock waves across Jammu.
The station house officer of Nagrota police station, Bhushan Manhas said, “The seven-yearold girl was raped by the cleric inside the madrasa on Monday morning in Kattal Batal area.”
The latest incident of Nagrota is the third such incident involving minors in the region in recent times, after the Kathua rapemurder case involving an eightyear-old tribal girl and the other of the murder under mysterious circumstances of a nine-year-old boy of Samba district.
The police officer identified the cleric as Shah Nawaz, 25, son of Mohammed Ghulam Hussain, a native of West Bengal.
“The cleric had joined the madrasa five to six months ago. He has confessed to his crime. We have registered a case under Section 376 (rape) of the Ranbir Penal Code against him,” said Manhas.
After committing rape on the minor girl, the cleric had asked her not to disclose it threatening her of dire consequences.
However, after returning home, the girl narrated the entire incident to her mother.
Acting upon the complaint, Nagrota police arrested the cleric on Tuesday.
The SHO said that the medical examination of the victim was conducted at the government hospital at Sarwal and the report was awaited.
On January 10, an eight-yearold girl from a nomadic tribe had gone missing from her house in Rassana village of Hiranagar tehsil in Kathua district and on January 17, her dead body was found from a cowshed in Rassana. The minor was allegedly raped before being murdered brutally.
The crime branch arrested two special police officers (SPOs) and a 15-year-old boy.
Close on the heels of girl’s alleged rape and murder in Hiranagar, another minor, a nine-year-old boy, went missing on March 4 from a ‘jagran’ in Meen Sarkar village of Samba district. He was found dead under mysterious circumstances on March 6 near a Nullah in the same village.
The class three student had gone to attend a ‘jagran’ on March 4, at his relative’s place with his parents, who lived nearby.
The child, who was found half-naked, had been allegedly sodomised before strangulated to death.
Bari Brahmana SHO Mahesh Sharma said, “We have detained three to four suspects and the investigations are on. The viscera have been sent to the forensic lab. Till we get the report, we can’t say whether the child was sexually abused and then strangulated to death.”
The police have registered a case under Section 302 (murder) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC).
A social activist Bharat Sharma regretted lukewarm response of the police in cracking the case.
“While crime branch acted with all seriousness in Rassana case, none is bothered about this nine-year-old boy, who was abused before being strangulated to death,” the activist said.