A gynaecology and obstetrics specialist in Mymensingh city was left reeling upon examining an 11-year-old girl, only to discover the child was pregnant.
Dr Saima Akhter’s shock deepened when she learnt the horrifying truth: the assault had occurred within the walls of a qawmi madrasa, allegedly perpetrated by a teacher.
After Dr Saima broke her silence on Facebook, the post exploded across social media, garnering 15,000 shares and 72,000 reactions in just three days, igniting public fury and demanding answers.
The number of qawmi madrasas across the country has surged dramatically in recent years. Disturbing allegations of sexual abuse involving both boys and girls in these institutions have repeatedly surfaced. Rumours swirl around girls’ madrasas, but this case has thrust the issue into the merciless spotlight.
The victim hails from Madan of Netrokona.
Madan Police Station Officer-in-Charge Tariqul Islam confirmed that the girl’s mother filed a formal complaint against madrasa teacher Aman Ullah Sagar on the evening of 30 April. “Our efforts to apprehend him are ongoing. We are confident he will be taken into custody shortly,” he stated.
Aman Ullah Sagar himself established the madrasa in 2022. His wife serves as headmistress at the same institution.
The victim is the only daughter of a widowed mother, who works as a domestic aide in a Sylhet household. The child had been studying at the madrasa under her grandmother’s care.
According to the complaint, the child was first raped last November. She was then threatened with death, along with her mother, should she ever speak of the ordeal.
Though the child survived that initial trauma, she later developed troubling physical symptoms. Her mother, alerted from Sylhet, immediately withdrew her from the madrasa and never allowed her to return.
A teacher at the institution claimed: “When the student left the madrasa five months ago, none of us were aware of this incident.”
Accused teacher Aman Ullah Sagar remains at large. His wife is also absconding. Sources indicate he has severed contact with villagers and relatives alike.
Dr Saima, a consultant at Mymensingh Nagar Matrisadan who also treats patients at the Swadesh Diagnostic Centre in Madan Upazila, Netrokona, first saw the girl on 30 April, brought by her mother.
The child confided in her: “My stomach feels heavy and I feel like I’m struggling.”
Sharing an ultrasound image, she penned a harrowing account: “She entrusted her child to a women’s madrasa for a better education. Who could have foreseen that the child would fall victim to the devil’s curse by the madrasa’s ‘Boro Hujur’, a married man and father to a five-month-old son?”
The foetus in the child’s womb is now beyond 27 weeks. While the girl is physically stable, her condition remains precarious.
Her frame is alarmingly frail: standing under four and a half feet tall and weighing a mere 29 kilograms. She suffers from severe anaemia, with a haemoglobin level of just 8.2, alongside malnutrition and parasitic worm infestation.
Dr Saima warned that a normal delivery poses extreme risk: the baby’s head is larger than the mother’s pelvis.
“In this situation, natural birth is virtually impossible, and even a caesarean section carries significant complications,” she explained. “The child is also mentally scarred and deeply traumatised.”
Dr Saima revealed that after the madrasa closed last November, the girl was instructed by the ‘Boro Hujur’ to sweep his room. The moment she entered, she was assaulted. She was then warned: speak of this, and both she and her mother would be killed. The assaults continued for another four to five days.
In February, the girl was removed from the madrasa. By March, her mother had taken her to a doctor.
The mother told Dr Saima that the Hujur’s family wields considerable influence.
An informal arbitration was once convened – but there, too, mother and daughter were threatened with expulsion from the area if they pursued justice.
The case now rests with authorities, as a nation watches, waits, and demands accountability.
