Thread by @RomeshNadir

Kerala film director Ali Akbar reveals he was victim of sexual abuse at madrasa. After 40 years he opened his mouth to narrate the horrible abuse he had to suffer at the Madrassa after he confided in one Kerala journalist Rajeena. Both being threatened now.

All this he revealed about five years back and when asked about speaking now, he said because of the fear from his religion, he could not muster courage to speak earlier. He also revealed that many of his friends spoke to him to have suffered similar abuses in Madrasas.

Ali Akbar had spoken all this in a
conversation on @CNNnews18 with Shreya Dondiyal. Here is the story - "Kerala film director Ali Akbar reveals he was victim of sexual abuse at Madrasa, when he was 8 years old in class 4 only.": news18.com/videos/india/k…

Am sure many will recall organised and localised grooming networks/rackets of Child abuse and sexual exploitation prevailing since 1980 onwards in #Rotherham, UK which grabbed the world headlines. While the news in UK could come out, here we see a gag, diktat against disclosure.

Sadly many stories of Child Abuse were brushed aside between late 80’s and early 90’s while #TaxiDrivers had been tasked to pick up children from #CareHomes in UK. Multiple reports surfaced passing names of British-Pakistani perpetrators engaged in such inhuman illicit activity.

In UK, the furore and outrage was so huge that House Of Commons Home Affairs Committee had to conduct probe to bust the ring. The report of Aug 2014 revealed that about 1400 children had been sexually abused in Rotterdam between 1997 & 2013, by the gang of Pakistani Born British.

What is unfortunate and shocking is that India despite being the largest Democracy, has seen its civil society staying mute to such unethical activities of such mammoth magnitude in Madrasas, going unreported for so long. Isn’t it d bounden duty of d faith followers to report ?

As citizens of the country I urge all right thinking minds to not hesitate but to come forward in rooting out this evil and in shaming & penalising the insane tribe indulging in such immoral & unethical acts of child abuse which is not restricted to boys but girls too not spared.

Many girls aged under 12 yrs got seduced, raped & made to undergo terminations, miscarriages, their babies raised by their mothers, etc, & their mothers too faced rape charges. Such acts putting their families too through trauma. Our society needs to arise to address such abuses.

Many a small girls from troubled families where their fathers had wives more than one, were overwhelmingly exploited by the Madrasa Maulvis, knowing well the status of women members in d family relegated to slaves. Thus vulnerability of such victims was very high & frequent too.

The cooperation of female members of the victims under fear and threats from these traders of human conscience needs to be stopped herewith by giving voice to the women relatives of these unfortunate boys and girls. This menace of sexual abuse of children must see its end soon.

The role of law enforcement agencies, in close collaboration with mothers of the victims and the human rights organisations besides the social service groups working in tandem can help mitigate this evil. The Madrasas need to be set free from the clutches of religious bigots too.

The problem can be tackled in two ways 1) Imparting modern education under supervision of well educated and enlightened men & women of repute. 2) A close watch and surveillance mechanisms be put in practice to thwart such immoral acts. Parents need not fear anyone in reporting.

Besides as a progressive society, the victims of such exploitation must not be seen with disdain, but we must show compassion & empathise with such victims & their families. An awareness campaign too needs to be launched thru media channels & through school guidance programmes.

Such awareness campaigns also need to be extended to places where child labour is involved. The role of administration/police has to be of a reformer as well as a monitoring agency vested with powers to book d culprits and file cases for prosecution.

The #Courts need to be proactive in according severe punishments to the accused found guilty. Punishing d culprits will deter other such elements around from committing the child abuse or their sexual exploitation. The administration needs to follow campaigns in unbiased manner.

And then comes the payback time of #Talaq, fed up by the unabated mental torture and threats to his life, #AliAkbar divorces his faith and assumes the name of #RamSingh freeing himself for good :

https://twitter.com/RomeshNadir/status/1469579716759670792