Young Girls Forced to Quit Studies, Culprit: Teacher’s Sexual Advances

52% of girls in our country have no future because they are not able to study. One major reason why they cannot study further, or opt out, is because they are often teased, molested, raped or sexually harassed. Rather than dealing with these issues, the quick-fix solution families and societies abruptly resort to is pausing their studies or even stopping them altogether.

We reported on a case like this in the Bargad Kasbah of Chitrakoot in rural Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh.

Baba Qutubadeen had been teaching Arabic to the local kids, in the madarsa in Bargad for the past seven years.  He is now gone missing, accused of having misbehaved with the girls while teaching them.

One of the students told us that Baba would keep his hand on her head and then run it all over her body, feeling her up. “Once he even took all of us inside his room to the bed and told us to get undressed,” she added.

Other women told us that the Baba would make the girls swear on the Quran that if they complained to their parents, their families would die and that their own hands would fall off.

Other women told us that the Baba would make the girls swear on the Quran that if they complained to their parents, their families would die and that their own hands would fall off. The girls had been living in fear hence, and it was only when they started cooking up excuses not to go study that their parents caught onto them, and the whole thing was uncovered.

Abdul Hameed from the kasba told us, “I had even caught this Baba red-handed a few years ago, but I was proven wrong ultimately, because he said that they will do as the Baba says, and nobody would believe me.”

Ansar Ahmad, another native, has vehemently expressed the kasba’s opinion, “The Baba should be put into jail. Everyone will be there to give a statement and support the truth.”

Subhash Chandr Chaurasiya, the police officer at the Bargad thana informed us  that Qutubudeen has been charged under the 304 of the IPC and 8 of the POCSO. He added that further investigation will be done after the court hearing.

In partnership with Khabar Lahariya