KARACHI: A sessions court on Wednesday sentenced a seminary teacher to 15 years in prison each in two cases after he was found guilty of sexually abusing two of his students in a local madressah in Landhi.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Naseer Noor Khan, who is also the presiding officer of the Gender Based Violence Court East, found Qari Muhammad Anwar — a teacher in a madressah in Landhi — guilty of sexually abusing two of his teenage students in 2025.

The court sentenced him to 15-year imprisonment each in two cases and also fined him Rs1 million each, with the direction that if the amount is paid by the convict, 50 per cent of it will be given to both the survivors or their parents as compensation. The court also ruled that both the sentences will run concurrently.

According to state prosecutors Rehana Khan and Amjad, two separate FIRs were registered against the accused in 2025, when for the first time a 13-year-old survivor complained to his parents and refused to go to the madressah situated in Landhi.

Suspect used to commit same offence with students in seminary, says one survivor

The first survivor disclosed to his parents that the accused had sexually assaulted him and used to commit the same offence with various students. His parents lodged a case against the accused person.

Later, the second 17-year-old survivor informed his sister about the sexual assault against him when he saw the news about the same teacher on a private TV channel about the alleged offence.

The second survivor also testified before the court that the accused used to commit the offence in a room inside the madressah.

Both the survivors had stated that the accused had threatened to harm them if they told anything about the offence.

During the trial, the accused denied the allegations and claimed that he was falsely implicated in the cases at the behest of an NGO.

He further stated that he was not on duty when the alleged offence occurred; however, the court noted that the Qari refused to examine himself on oath.

The judge observed that the accused claimed innocence and alleged that he had been implicated in the cases because he had refused to give money to “some NGO” on their demand.

The judge added that the contentions of the accused did not appeal to a “prudent mind” as to why an NGO would allegedly blackmail the accused, who was a teacher at the madressah, and demand money; and how, on his refusal, that NGO could have succeeded in persuading the parents of both survivors to accept stigma on the future lives of their children merely to assist that NGO in taking revenge on the accused.

The court further noted that two defence witnesses who were examined included one who had admitted that he did not know all the facts, while the second witness, the administrator of the madressah, stated in his evidence that he had told one of the survivors’ parents: “Jo hua so hua, aap darguzar karein (whatever happened has happened, please forgive it),” and also supported the prosecution’s case.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026