A Qur’anic teacher suspected of raping 27 Senegal female students under his tutelage has been arrested on Monday after evading police for several weeks.
The teacher is suspected to have violated dozens of students at his school in the city of Touba in central Senegal, local police stated.
A source confirmed that the suspect went into hiding after an alleged victim produced a medical document.
He was arrested on Monday “after handing himself over to the police. After questioning, he was handed over to the gendarmerie,” the official said.
No precise detail of time, ages and dates has emerged about the “raping of 27 students” who lodged complaints against him.
However, local media alleged the victims were “minors”, implying they were under 15, and that the Madrasa has been closed.
According to “Le Jour” , a local newspaper, the crime came to limelight after one of the abused girls refused to return to the school, where students learn about Islamic teachings, because the teacher “had sexual relations with her and all the other girls”.
Touba is considered a holy city by the Mourides, a popular sect in the Muslim-majority West African country.
The arrest comes after opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in jail for inciting a young woman to “debauchery”, although he was cleared of a rape charge.
Sonko’s legal battles over the rape allegations had captured media attention for two years, but the issue of sexual violence faded into the background as the affair became increasingly politicised.