Raped in UP madrassa in 2020, teacher gets accused booked

BAREILLY: Two years after a teacher, now aged 24, was raped in a shut madrassa during Covid lockdown, police booked three accused, including the manager (35), following a court order. The crime occurred allegedly inside the seminary's office in an area in UP's Budaun district when the woman had gone to collect her long-pending salary.

In her complaint, the woman, who had been working in the madrassa since 2017, said, "I was called there (at the madrassa) by the manager, RA Khan, on April 16, 2020, for my pending salary. After reaching the madrassa with my younger brother, the manager asked me to stay back and sent my brother home. He with two of his friends -- Nazrul Khan and Muzahid Khan -- then offered a sedative-laced cold drink and I fell unconscious. After that they sexually assaulted me."

She added: "I remained quiet all these months out of fear as they threatened me with dire consequences. But, recently, the accused tried to abduct me and I had to do something about it."

She said that the madrassa manager used to harass her often with obscene conversation and she had raised the matter with seniors who had warned him to "behave properly".

The teacher said that she tried to recently lodge an FIR with police, but since the crime committed in 2020, her request was turned down. Left with no other option, she approached the local court.

SHO of Alapur, Sanjeev Shukla, said on Saturday, "An FIR was registered under IPC sections 376 (rape), 323 (voluntary causing hurt), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against all three persons named in the complaint on Friday. The complainant will be sent for medical tests and further action will be taken as per the law."