The monstrous teacher who blackmailed, raped 20 schoolgirls

A teacher of a private school at Mijmiji Kandapara area of Siddhirganj upazila of Narayanganj was arrested on Thursday on charges of repeatedly raping at least 20 students and mothers of some of them for several years through blackmail.

Law enforcement also arrested the headmaster of Oxford International School, Rafiqul Islam Julfiqar, for abetting the crime of Ariful Islam, an assistant teacher.

Local people said Ariful joined the school as its English and Mathematics teacher eight years ago. He used to run a coaching centre at a flat near the school.

The teacher used to take indecent photos and videos of female students and rape them through blackmailing. He used the photos and video clips to rape the girls time and again.

There is more. Ariful reportedly raped the mothers of 6-7 victims through blackmailing them using the indecent photos and video clips.

As the matter became public, guardians and locals went to the school on Thursday noon and beat up Ariful and headmaster Rafiqul before handing them over to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police.

The officer-in-charge of Siddhirganj police station said they found some indecent photos and video clips in the mobile phone of the assistant teacher.

Wishing anonymity, a guardian said his daughter, now a Class-IX student, was first raped by Ariful when she was in Class-V. “But she didn’t disclose the matter.”

Three months back, Ariful was arrested on charge of sexually harassing a female teacher of his school. However, headmaster Rafiqul Islam got him released from the police station, said another guardian.

Siddhirganj upazila unit Awami League general secretary Yasin Miah said the teacher also raped the mothers of at least 6-7 victims through blackmailing them.

Additional police superintendent of RAB-11 Md Alep Uddin said Ariful, during primary interrogation, has confessed that he had raped at least 20 schoolgirls.

Source: unb/Prothom Alo