Senior student arrested for ‘rape’ after madrasa student dies by ‘suicide’

The arrestee has been accused of harassment several times

A senior student at a madrasa in Dhaka’s Rampura has been arrested over allegations of rape and instigation to suicide after the death of a child.

The arrestee has been identified as Md Shihab Hossain.

According to Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, deputy police commissioner of the Motijheel Division, he was arrested on Wednesday night from Khakchhara village in Pabna’s Bera Thana.

On Tuesday night, police recovered the body of a 10-year-old boy named Md Abdullah from the “Alokito Quran International Hifz Madrasa” in the C-Block of Rampura’s Banasree.

The body was found hanged with a Gamchha, or cotton towel, tied around the neck.

The body was later sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem after an inquest report was prepared.

Deputy Commissioner Harun said, “During the preparation of the inquest report, signs of abnormal sexual activities were found in the anal area. Later, extensive questioning of the madrasa authorities revealed shocking information.”

During interrogation, the madrasa authorities stated that Shihab had previously been accused of sexual harassment of four other students at the institution. Based on these allegations, a case was filed against him by the madrasa authorities.

Harun said, “Before the child allegedly hanged himself, the accused Shihab had already left the madrasa and gone to his village home. He was arrested from there.”

Abdullah’s mother, Tuku Ara Khatun, filed a case at Rampura Police Station on Wednesday against Shihab and several unidentified individuals, he added.