Minor girl raped, one arrested

A seven-year-old schoolgirl was raped allegedly by the imam of a local mosque at Birpakerdah village in Madarganj upazila on Wednesday.

The accused is Jahedul Islam, 35, imam of Birpakerdah Ahle Hadis Jame Mosque, and son of Badsha Miah of Nishchintapur village.

Police and locals said the second grader along with several other minor girls used to come to the mosque to learn Arabic from Jahedul.

After the Arabic class was over at around 6:00pm on Wednesday, the imam let all the learners except the victim go.

He then took the girl to his living room under the stairs of the mosque in the name of making the lesson easy and raped her, alleged Rampada Mandal, officer-in-charge of Madarganj Police Station.

As she cried for help, locals rushed to the spot, rescued the girl and caught the imam red-handed. They later handed him over to police after giving him a good beating.

The girl was sent to Jamalpur General Hospital for medical test.

The victim's mother filed a rape case under Women and Children Repression Prevention Act, said the OC.