Meerut on boil over alleged gang-rape, forced conversion

Zee Media Bureau/Ajith Vijay Kumar

Meerut: Even before communal embers get extinguished in Saharanpur, tension gripped neighbouring Meerut after a young madrasa teacher alleged gang-rape and forced conversion into a community.

The 20-year-old, who was a regular teacher of Hindi and English in the Sarawa village madrasa in Kharkhauda, alleged that she was abducted on July 23 and taken to a madrasa in Hapur and later shifted to another one in Muzaffarnagar. She claimed that she was gang-raped and later forced to adopt the religion of a particular community and her named changed.

The woman managed to escape from captivity on August 2 and contacted her family who rescued her and later filed a complaint with the police. Of the four persons named in the FIR, village chief of Sarawa and a madrasa official have been arrested and a hunt is on for the other two. The SHO of Kharkhauda has also been removed from his post.

The victim later claimed that she had seen 40 more girls in the Muzaffarnagar madrasa. She said they have been kept in captivity in a secret underground room.

With tensions rising and BJP leaders demanding complete probe, the UP Police searched the said madrasa only to find – reportedly – around 15 girls who had been registered there as having come there on a vacation. The police also failed to find any trace of a secret cellar. The girl was taken for medical examination yesterday. She has claimed that her stomach was sliced, fuelling fears that the whole issue may be linked to a organ transplant racket.

The district administration is maintaining a strict vigil in the area.

Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) personnel were deployed in the area after members of a particular communities attacked and pelted stone at the houses of members of another community last night in Kharkhauda and Atrada areas.

According to Superintendent of Police (rural) Captain MS Begh, the 20-year-old woman`s father had lodged a complaint last night in Kharkhauda police station against Village Pradhan Nawab Khan, cleric Sallaullah, his wife and daughter Nishant for abduction and rape, as per PTI.

Begh said, the woman managed to escape and returned to her house on July 30 and narrated her ordeal to her parents.

He said the woman`s medical examination has confirmed rape and cuts were found on her abdomen. He rejected media reports that the girl`s kidney had been removed.

Meerut District magistrate Pankaj Yadav today said that Sallaullah, his wife and daughter have been arrested. Since the incident occurred in Hapud, he said the final decision post magisterial inquiry into the matter will be taken by Hapud district magistrate.

A magisterial inquiry into the incident will be conducted by Deputy District Collector SP Singh, who will submit a report within a week, District Magistrate (Hapud) Rajesh Kumar Singh said.

With PTI inputs