Author: SP Singh/ Ghaziabad
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: June 19, 2003
A student of a madarsa in Bulandshahr
who was being kept in chains was rescued by the police on Wednesday afternoon.
The police swung into action after a photograph of the boy appeared in
a local daily on Wednesday morning. The child has been identified as 12-year-old
Rizwan.
The incident came to light when
three students of Faiz-e-am madarsa tried to escape on Sunday night. Fed
up with the coercive tactics employed by the cleric of the madarsa, three
students of the madarsa, which is situated at Chandpur under Kotwali Dehat,
managed to escape. However, their luck ran out and the local police apprehended
them and handed them back to the moulvi of the madarsa.
However, before handing them back
to the madarsa, the police party took the students to the police station.
On a tip-off a local journalist managed to get in touch with the boys,
who told him that the management of the madarsa had kept them confined
for the last few months.
The three children have been identified
as Arshad (8) son of Mohammad Din, a resident of Lisari Gate, Meerut, Iqram
(10), son of Shah Zamal, a resident of Saraiya village under Buhari police
station of Gonda district and Asif (7), son of Raees, a resident of Shastri
Park in Bulandshahr.
The children who narrated their
horrifying tale to the reporter said that they were thrashed over petty
issues. The madarsa which educates children from poor families ill-treated
the children and the parents who feel obliged by the fact that their wards
were being educated for free, turn a blind eye to the proceedings. Emboldened
by this attitude, the madarsa management resorted to beastly methods like
chaining them in order to prevent the students from running away.
Investigations revealed that the
students do not want to remain in the madarsa but the inability of their
parents to provide alternate education for them has emboldened the moulvi
of the madarsa.
"We do not want to go there. If
you force us to go back we will be beaten badly," the children pleaded
with the police. However, their pleas fell on deaf ears and the police
took them back to the madarsa.
Unable to get the children and their
sorry plight out of his mind, the reporter followed the children and managed
to click a photograph of Rizwan, one of the children who had been chained
by the moulvi.
When contacted on telephone, the
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Alok Sharma said, "this is not America
where children have their rights. Here it is either the school or the parents
who make decisions regarding children. We have handed them over to the
madarsa since their parents want them to be there".
On being told that the children
had accused both their parents and the madarsa of torturing them, the SSP
said the City Magistrate has gone to record the statement of the students.
On being reminded that the statement of the students should have been recorded
at the police station instead of the madarsa where they would be under
duress, the SSP fumbled for an answer. The police has confiscated the chain
and the lock which was used to tie Rizwan and the police has made a daily
diary entry in the case.
