Activists accuse Latur Police, child welfare panel of inaction against maulavi accused of sexually exploiting minors

Pune: Questions are being raised about why authorities are not taking action against the maulavi of a madrasa in Maharashtra’s Latur district who is accused of sexually exploiting minor girls at the school. Social activists have questioned the inaction despite the complaints they registered with both the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and the Latur Police.

The activists have alleged that Mufti Abdul Wajid, maulavi of the Hazrat Fatima Tuz Zohra madrasa, has been sexually assaulting the minor girls who study and stay at the madrasa at Mauje Lamjana Pati village in Latur’s Lamjana taluk.

Azhar Tamboli, a social activist who works for child rights and protection of children at religious institutes (madrasas) and orphanages (yatimkhanas) through his organisation, Islaah Foundation, has written to the CWC, the Latur collector’s office, the Superintendent of Police of Latur, the Nanded range inspector general asking them to lodge an FIR against Wajid.

“I have submitted a video clip of 18 seconds, in which a minor girl is narrating her ordeal. I also have five audio clips in which five different minor girls share that they have gone through sexual exploitation at the hands of Wajid. But no action has been taken against the madarasa, Tamboli said.

“Wajid has also sexually exploited a teacher at the madrasa,” the activist alleged, adding that the teacher had taken a stealthy video of an incident when Wajid was compelling him into performing a sexual act.

“Later, the teacher lodged an FIR against Wajid under Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code for unnatural sex. But the maulavi lodged a cross FIR against the teacher for extortion, claiming that the teacher had asked for favours, like the position of deputy head at the madrasa, by threatening to make the video public or go to the police,” the activist said.

However, Tamboli asserted that these two FIRs are not the current problem. By talking to the girls, the teacher managed to get audio and video clips in which they admit to being sexually harassed, he said, adding that the girls are from “extremely poor families” from rural Marathwada who are most likely unaware of what the children are going through.

However, chairperson of the Latur CWC Uma Vyas claimed that the girls had denied facing any problems at the madrasa when they visited the religious school, first on 14 January and again on 24 January with the district child protection officer. Vyas claimed that the girls said they had been pressured to speak for the audio clips.

“If the girls don’t come forward, we can’t do anything,” she added.

Vyas has no idea about the exact number of girls staying at the madarasa. “As per our records, 80 girls stay there. But the Deputy Superintendent of Police said there are 140 girls,” the CWC chief said.

Ganesh Kindre, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Ausa in Latur, also claimed that the girls had said “they had no problem at all”.

“We have taken the statement of the girls… If the girls or their parents lodge a complaint, only then can we file an FIR (against the maulavi). Third parties like social activists cannot lodge an FIR in such cases as per the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act,” he said.

Child rights activist Zain Sayyed, said: “How do you expect the girls, who are from poor and rural families, to speak against the maulavi when you talk to them at the same madrasa? They know they have stay at the same madrasa later. When you get a complaint of sexual harassment of minor girls, you need to rescue and shift them to government homes or other safe places and then can gain their confidence. Meanwhile, medical tests should be conducted to check the allegations against the maulavi.”

Sayyed added that he had heard the audio clips of the girls speaking about sexual exploitation by the maulavi.

“In one of the clips, a girl clearly says ‘unke saath zeena hua hai’. Zeena means sex. If an Urdu-speaking member had accompanied the CWC to the madrasa, they would have understood what the girls were saying. These girls cannot understand any other language but Urdu and Arabic.”

Responding to Sayyed’s statement, the CWC chairperson said the Deputy Superintendent of Police had taken an Urdu translator along to talk to the girls. But Sayyed said this was the CWC’s job, not the police’s.

Meanwhile, Anjali Pawar, another child rights activist from Pune, pointed out that according to the POCSO Act, the police must register an FIR as soon as they receive a complaint of a minor being sexually assaulted and take the girls for medical tests posthaste.

“This is a serious matter as minor girls are being sexually exploited. As per my information, 40 girls stay and study at the madrasa, and it’s possible that all of them are facing this problem. The question is, why is the police not taking the complaint seriously when the same maulavi had allegedly sexually exploited many girls at the same madrasa in 2016? At that time, he had managed to shut the parents up and get the case closed. When there is such background, the police needs to take action immediately,” Pawar asserted.

“The police might feel that these allegations by activists are false,” she added. “Regardless, they should go ahead with the investigation, and if the complaint is found to be false, they can take action against the activists instead.”