Madarsa teacher in Bihar's Saharsa held for raping minor

Patna, Oct 9 (IANS) A madarsa teacher in Bihar's Saharsa was arrested on Monday on the charge of raping a 13-year-old girl, police said.

The victim's parents are in Delhi where they work as wage labourers and she was living with her maternal grandmother in a village that comes under Sadar police station.

Police said that the incident came to light on October 7 when the victim approached Sadar police station and registered a written complaint against the accused. Accordingly the FIR was registered under POCSO act against the accused on October 8 and he was arrested him on Monday.

The victim used to go to the nearby madarsa to study. Three months ago, she was raped by a teacher there and he had threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed the incident to anyone. Since then, the accused was regularly raping her whenever she went to madarsa for the study.

The health of the victim deteriorated a few days ago and when her maternal grandmother took her to a clinic for treatment, the doctors scanned her abdomen and found her pregnant. The baby however died inside the womb.

After following the legal procedures, the doctors operated upon and removed the dead foetus from her abdomen.

Her parents were informed and returned to Saharsa and called for a panchayat but did not get justice. The accused offered Rs 10,000 as a compensation to the victim which her family refused.

The victim finally reached Sadar police station and lodged a complaint against the accused.

"We have registered an FIR on the basis of a complaint lodged by the victim’s parents. We have conducted the medical checkup which confirms rape. We have arrested the accused under POCSO act," Sadar police station SHO Sudhakar Kumar said.