Imam’s father turn his son in for abusing madrassa children

RAWALAKOT: An octogenarian father in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Sudhanoti district handed over his son — an Imam and madrassa teacher — to the police for allegedly raping and filming madrassa children.

According to details, a case of sexual abuse involving several madrassa children was reported at Fatima Zahra Jamia Masjid Kahala, located in Baloch tehsil of Sudhanoti district. The imam of the mosque and madrasa teacher, Hafiz Akash Rai, is accused of sexually abusing a total of eight children. He allegedly also made daily videos of the abuse.

Videos of the alleged child sexual abuse, found on the mobile phone of the accused Hafiz, were somehow leaked on social media, after which the accused went into hiding.

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According to the accused’s father, when he saw these videos on social media and people contacted him about the matter, he began searching for his son.

He stated that his elder son, the accused’s real brother, and one of his grandsons were also with him. “When I learnt about his hideout, I went straight there in the middle of the night; caught him, and handed him over to the police,” he said in a video statement.

The accused’s father further stated that instead of supporting a criminal, he chose to support madrassa children. “That is why, I personally handed my son over to the law.”

He also clarified that the arrest of the accused, Hafiz Akash Rai, did not involve the efforts of any social worker or law enforcement officials, but that he himself handed over his son to the authorities.

Meanwhile, an FIR has also been registered at a local police station based on the complaint of an affected child’s uncle.

In the FIR, the victim’s uncle states that the accused, Akash Rai, molested his nephew on July 25, 2025, at 2:30 pm and made videos of him, threatening the child that if he told anyone about the sexual assault, his videos would be spread on social media.

The child’s uncle also stated in the FIR that the delay in reporting the incident to the police was because the child did not report the sexual assault after returning home, due to fear.

According to the police and locals, the eight madrassa children whom the accused Akash Rai allegedly abused are between the ages of five and 12.

The police, taking credit for the arrest of the accused, stated that Hafiz Rai, the absconding accused in the sexual assault case of eight madrassa children in Kahala, was taken into custody from Pothi Chapriyan area of Hajira tehsil.

Child abuse in AJK

There is a lot of anger in the area over this heart-breaking incident as this is the second incident of child abuse in the state during the last four weeks.

On July 29, 2025, a 16-year-old girl named Tasmia Sohail from Saidpur Pilan village in Khoi Ratta, Kotli district, went missing.

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According to AJK police, a missing person report for the girl was registered, and a search was underway when a murder case was registered on August 1, 2025, after the missing girl’s body was found in a field.

About a week after the incident, the police arrested the main accused. Mumtaz Shah, a resident of Faisalabad, was an employee at the house of former police constable Faisal.

He gave the girl food, took her to a field, raped her, then covered her mouth and killed her, according to the Kotli police.

Kotli SP stated that accused Mumtaz Shah had earlier offered a child to play Ludo, but the parents scolded the child and forbade him.

He added that accused Mumtaz Shah had given sweets and candies to the children in the locality, and they were familiar with him.

‘I will take my daughter’s body to army chief’

Mohammad Sohail, the father of young Tasmia, said in an interview with a local journalist that if he does not get justice, he will exhume his daughter’s body and take it to the army chief, and if nothing happens there either, “I will go to the court of Allah.”

Sohail was in Saudi Arabia when his daughter was killed. He returned yesterday (Saturday).

“Tasmia was a piece of my heart, and I have no peace in my life without her. Her memory haunts me day and night.”

During the conversation, he could not control his emotions, and tears started flowing from his eyes.