40 minor girls rescued from toilet in unregistered madrasa in UP: What authorities said?

FOrty venial girls, elderly septenary to 14, were discovered locked interior a can at an unregistered madrasa in Payagpur tehsil, Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, during a Wednesday evening inspection by the district administration.The action followed reports that the owner of the three-storey building in Pahalpurwa village was operating the institution without the necessary permissions.How were the girls discovered?Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Payagpur, Ashwini Kumar Pandey, stated that the district administration had received repeated complaints regarding an illegal madrasa operating in a three-storey building in Pahalwara village under Payagpur tehsil. The madrasa has now been shut down.“On Wednesday, during our inspection, the madrasa operators initially tried to prevent us from going upstairs. In the presence of police, we entered the premises and found the terrace toilet locked,” he said.When female police personnel opened the door, 40 girls aged between nine and 14 emerged one by one. The girls appeared frightened and were unable to speak clearly, Pandey added.He further reiterated that the team had acted in response to multiple complaints about the madrasa’s functioning. “When we reached for inspection, the madrasa operators resisted and tried to prevent us from going upstairs. With police support, we found a locked toilet on the terrace. Once female police personnel opened the door, the girls came out one by one,” Pandey said.What authorities said?District minority welfare officer (DMO) Mohammad Khalid confirmed that the madrasa, identified as Jamia Ghazia Gulshan-e-Ghausulwara at Patihar Chauraha in Payagpur, had been operating illegally for nearly three years. “The management could not produce any valid documents. We demanded records, but nothing has been provided to date,” he said. A 2023 survey had already listed the madrasa among 495 unrecognised institutions in Bahraich.Khalid added that the students and teachers panicked when police arrived, locking themselves in the toilet, apparently to create the impression that the madrasa’s activities had ceased.Following the inspection, the district administration ordered the madrasa to be closed. Officials said all the girls were safely handed over to their parents.The madrasa, exclusively for girls, also offered residential facilities. “There were eight rooms where the girls lived and studied, while some were day scholars from nearby villages. A teacher, Tafseen Fatima, produced registration forms for 40 girls but admitted that the official records were with her father, Khalil Ahmed, who runs the madrasa,” Khalid said.The state government has not yet issued a clear policy regarding such illegal madrassas. While some were sealed last year, managers had obtained a High Court stay, Khalid noted, adding that a new regulatory framework is expected soon.Additional superintendent of police (city) Ramanand Prasad Kushwaha said no FIR has been registered yet. “The parents, SDM, or the minority welfare officer has not approached us for lodging a case so far. If any complaint is received, appropriate legal action will be taken,” he said.(With inputs from HT correspondent)