Malayalam director Ali Akbar on Monday alleged sexual abuse in Kerala madrassas, thereby challenging the claims of Sunni Muslim leader Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musliyar that the madrassas were free from such abuses.
Akbar said that when he studied in Class IV at a madrassa in Wayanad district, the then ustad had sexually abused him.
"My ustad tried to rape me. It happened 40 years back or so but I wanted to speak about it. At the age of eight, I was told all about sex. It has haunted me all my life," Akbar told ANI.
"It happened (sexual harassment) to me 40 years ago and it is still happening in Sunni Madrassas especially but nobody talks about it. Such incidents happen a lot in Kerala, everybody knows but no one is ready to speak because of fear of religion," he added.
Akbar alleged that no steps are taken against such acts due to vote bank politics.
"These people must be booked but won't happen. There is much agitation on the beef issue but there is not even a strike on this," he said.
Akbar's statements came after Muslim woman journalist V. P. Rajeena alleged that ustads abused girls and boys in the madrassa she was in.
Rajeena's post where she shared her experience about how she witnessed boys and girls of her class being abused by the 'ustad' had gone viral following which she received abusive comments and threats online accusing her of defaming Islam.
