KARACHI: A retired schoolteacher allegedly involved in committing sodomy with minor students whom he tutored at a private property in Khairpur, Sukkur, was arrested on Friday, a day after the scandal broke out on the social media.
Sukkur Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Fida Hussain Mastoi had earlier said that police had conducted a raid at the suspect’s hometown but he had managed to escape.
A picture showing the teacher allegedly sodomising a minor boy was widely shared on Twitter, with residents and activists demanding immediate arrest of the suspect and justice for the victims.
Two first information reports (FIR) have been registered against the teacher on rape charges as well as under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, on the complaint of parents of two children who were allegedly victimised by him.
“Schoolchildren were going to his tuition centre at a private premises since government schools are currently closed” due to the coronavirus pandemic, the DIG said. Both the FIRs have been registered at Thari Mirwah police station.
The suspect had retired recently from a government job as a schoolteacher. He was alleged to have raped one of his pupils, filmed the ghastly act and then made it viral. He has also been accused of forcing his students to commit sodomy with each other.
All the students who were studying at his tuition centre were aged between 10 and 12 years.
“A video of one boy doing all this with his friend was also filmed and made viral,” DIG Mastoi said. He said that the teacher appeared to be normal and he had been seen photographed with many prominent personalities in Khairpur as well.
Reports indicate that the teacher, a resident of village Nangar Shar in Khairpur’s Faiz Ganj taluka, was also previously chargesheeted in some other crime as well. He also faced double murder charges that were not proven and he moved to Thari Mirwah from Faiz Ganj in the backdrop of the charges.
Police have learnt that the suspect also got the relatives of a young boy implicated in a false case when the boy resisted being involved in an illicit relationship with him.
