Karachi court sentences cleric to two concurrent 15-year terms in madressah abuse cases

KARACHI: A sessions court in Karachi on Wednesday sentenced a cleric to two separate 15-year prison terms after convicting him in two cases involving the sexual abuse of students at a madressah in the city’s Landhi area.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Naseer Noor Khan announced the verdict against Qari Muhammad Anwar. The court ordered that the two sentences run concurrently. It also imposed a fine of Rs1 million in each case and directed that half of the fine amount in each case be paid to the affected boys or their parents as compensation.

Two FIRs registered in 2025

According to state prosecutors Rehana Khan and Amjad, two separate first information reports were lodged against Anwar, who was also serving as a madressah teacher, in 2025.

The prosecutors told the court that the first case was registered on the complaint of the parents of a 13-year-old boy after the child informed them that the cleric had sexually abused him and other students at the seminary.

They said the second case was filed after a 17-year-old boy saw television reports about allegations against Anwar in a sexual abuse case and then told his sister that he too had been sexually assaulted by the cleric.

Testimony of the two boys

The prosecutors said both boys testified before the court that the cleric used to abuse them inside a room at the madressah. They further stated that the accused had threatened them with harm if they disclosed what he had been doing.

During the trial, Anwar denied the allegations. He claimed he had been falsely implicated at the behest of a non-governmental organisation and also argued that he did not have a class at the madressah at the time the offences were committed.

Court observations on defence claims

In its observations, the court noted that the cleric had refused to examine himself on oath. The judge also took up the defence claim that the accused had been implicated because he had refused to give money to what he described as some NGO.

The judge said the cleric’s arguments did

not appeal to a prudent mind

The court questioned why an NGO would seek to blackmail a madressah teacher and demand money from him. It further asked how, after his refusal, such an organisation could have persuaded the parents of both boys to join it in taking revenge and allow their children to face what the court described as a stigma for life.

The judgment also referred to the two defence witnesses examined during the proceedings. According to the court, one witness admitted that he did not know all the facts of the case. The second witness, who was an examiner at the madressah, acknowledged that he had tried to persuade the parents of one of the boys to forgive the culprit.

The ruling concluded the two cases in which the court found the cleric guilty of sexually abusing the students.