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Last Updated:June 07, 2025, 11:16 IST
The report shares chilling testimonies of minors who say they were "raped" and "assaulted" by clerics trusted to teach them
The are at least 17,738 registered madrasas in Pakistan, educating about 2.2 million children. (AFP file photo)
An exclusive report by Paris-based France 24 has brought the spotlight back on the grim reality of sexual violence in madrasas across Pakistan. These religious schools, which provide free Islamic education to over two million children, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, have for years harboured abuse behind closed doors.
The report shares chilling testimonies of minors who say they were “raped" and “assaulted" by clerics trusted to teach them.
“All the boys in the village were talking about the risk of being raped in the madrasas … I didn’t think it could happen to me," a 14-year-old boy told the publication, recalling how he was raped by the mullah who ran his school.
In a video clip shared by the outlet on social media platform X, a minor recounts being taken by his headmaster under the pretext of cleaning his house. “I got on his motorbike and we left. He came into the room, closed the door and started assaulting me," the minor says in the recording.
“He pulled down his trousers and took mine off by force. And then he did horrible things to me. I couldn’t stop crying," the boy narrates.
This is not the first report to expose such abuse. In 2017, the Associated Press published a major investigation revealing hundreds of sexual abuse cases within Pakistan’s madrasas. That report, based on police records and interviews with victims, families, clerics, aid workers, and officials, warned that the actual number of cases could be much higher due to widespread underreporting and silence.
Currently, as per the country’s government data, there are at least 17,738 registered madrasas in Pakistan, educating about 2.2 million children. However, many more religious schools operate without any formal oversight. There is no central authority to regulate these institutions or to respond to allegations of abuse.
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Pakistan
First Published:News world Sexual Violence In Pakistan's Madrasas Back In Spotlight, Minor Recalls 'He Did Horrible Things'
