After Catholic Priest, Madrasa Teacher Arrested for Sexually Exploiting Minor Girls in Kannur

International Business Times
March 15, 2017

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/kerala-after-catholic-priest-madrasa-teacher-arrested-sexually-exploiting-minor-girls-kannur-719486

A madrasa teacher has been arrested for sexually exploiting at least four minor girls aged between 8 and 11 at a madrasa at Iritty in Kannur. The accused, identified as Muhammed Rafi, was arrested after the parents of the girls approached the police and registered a complaint.

Muhammed Rafi, a native of Tharuvana in Wayanad, has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). The local media reports that the accused has confessed to the crime and will be produced in court on Wednesday, March 15. Police suspect that the accused could have abused many other children in a similar manner.

The latest incident comes on the heels of a parish priest being arrested in Kerala for allegedly raping and impregnating a minor girl. Fr. Robin Vadakkancheril, vicar at St. Sebastian Church of Kottiyoor in Kannur district, was taken into custody after a government childline service tipped off the police. Earlier this month, in yet another incident that shocked the state, it was revealed that seven minor girls in a hostel in the Wayanad district of Kerala, were allegedly molested by a member of the staff at the school hostel. The issue came to light after one of the girls informed a school official.