Paedophile teacher was known for his English

JAIPUR: A two-storied nondescript house stands barely 500 metres from the Ramganj police station among numerous other buildings in the serpentine alleyways of the old city.

But in the last few days, the locked doors of the house have suddenly become the center of attraction in and around the locality with pedestrians shooting quick, furtive glances at it every now and then.

At times, the rustle of footsteps stops in front of the closed doors, followed by hushed voices discussing its former resident Rameez, the paedophile tutor who is accused of molesting several children at his house and filming the act.

Rameez is currently in police custody after he was arrested on February 8. So far, two FIRs have been lodged against him by the families of his victims.

“He was exceptionally quiet and didn’t mingle with neighbours. But the entire neighbourhood knew him because of his qualifications and the fact that he knew English. Every day, around 50-60 children would come to his house to study,” said Mohammed Rashid, who runs a shop in the same building.

Neighbours say that the family of Rameez had left the house locked behind them on the same day when he was arrested by the police.

“A huge crowd gathered in his house at around 11:30 pm on February 6 when the videos of Rameez molesting children went viral. The crowd came in search for him but Rameez wasn’t home. They argued and roughed up their family before leaving. An FIR was filed the day after,” said a neighbour who didn’t wish to be identified.

Accused of molesting children for the last six years, Rameez comes from a joint family and is one of a handful people in his locality who could fluently speak English.

“It was because of his academic background that Rameez was popular in the locality and had students going to him for tuitions. His degree from an Englishmedium school created an aura around him,” said Aslam Khan, advocate of one of the victim’s families.

The Jaipur police have so far recovered 77 videos and identified 11 children but hardly any headway could be made in urging the families to lodge First Information Report.