Madrassa teacher flees after torturing 2 students for four months

Fayyaz lost 4 fingers after being accused of stealing, police search for Hussain.

GUJRANWALA:

Police officials filed a case against a cleric who tortured two madrassah students for over four months.

According to police officials, a raid was conducted at the Faizan Madina Madrassah a week ago and police recovered two boys who had been locked in the cleric’s private quarters for over four months. “The boys were badly beaten and one of them had lost four fingers on his right hand,” Inspector Rana Ali said. “The boy said that his fingers had been cut off after the cleric accused him of theft,” he added.

On Tuesday, police officials filed a case against mosque leader Fida Hussain and are searching for his whereabouts.

Hussain held both boys for four months in his private quarters and beat them severely. When police officials received a tip-off regarding the boy’s condition, they raided the locality and recovered the boys.

“They told me my sons were spending the next four months at a different branch of the madrassah so I didn’t question it further,” said the boy’s father Naushera Vikran resident Abdul Shakoor. Shakoor said that his sons Fayaz, 11, and Sajjad, 14, had been studying at the madrassah for over six years.

Others at the madrassah told police officials that Hussain had told them the boys were with their parents.

“When we asked him where they were he said they were with their parents,” madrassah teacher Asghar said.

Fida Hussain held both boys over theft charges.

“He initially accused me and said that he would punish me for it even though I didn’t steal anything,” Fayyaz told police, adding “my brother was called in and he said that he was definitely also a thief because he was my brother.” Fayyaz and Sajjad and their family protested outside the police station for the arrest of Fida Hussain and Gurjakh police officials have registered a case.

“We have also deployed a guard at the madrassah to ensure he doesn’t return to the spot without our knowledge,” a police inspector said.

A medical officer at the DHQ hospital conducted a thorough medical check up for both boys and said that they had suffered long term abuse.

“The boys have been severely beaten and the bruises and gashes on their bodies are deep. They are also severely malnourished,” Dr Rasheed said. “I also suspect that they have been sexually assaulted but there is no DNA evidence in this regard,” he added.

Dr Rasheed said that Fayyaz had lost four fingers after they were lopped off by the cleric.

“I used to try and meet the boys but he kept telling me that the boys were not at the madrassah but were learning Arabic at a different branch. He said they had been sent there because they were very good students and it was a better branch,” Abdul Shakoor said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2011.