24 children rescued from alleged abuse at Tumakuru madrasa; cleric booked

TUMAKURU: Twenty-four children from Bihar were rescued at the Bengaluru railway station after they fled from a madrasa in Tumakuru, alleging harassment and abuse by a cleric. The incident occurred at Jamia Arabia Hasinia Trust in Amlapura, Tumakuru.

The Railway Protection Force found the children at the Bengaluru railway station and took them to safety. According to the Child Welfare Committee complaint, madrasa cleric Moulali allegedly harassed the children. He is accused of throwing stones at them, physically assaulting them if they refused to work, and denying them food.

The children reportedly ran away from the madrasa due to the harassment. Based on the CWC complaint, the case was transferred to Tumakuru. An FIR has been registered against the cleric at the Tumakuru Rural Police Station. The case has been filed under the Juvenile Justice Act and the Child Labour Prohibition Act. Tumakuru Rural Police said further investigation is under way.

Four die in accident

In a separate incident, four people were killed in a head-on collision between a car and a lorry near Jigani Palya in Kothagere on Saturday, police said. The accident took place when an Maruti Alto car (KA 11 N 1211) travelling from Tumakuru towards Mandya collided head-on with a lorry (KA 03 D 5599) moving from Kunigal towards Tumakuru.

The deceased have been identified as Gayatri (68) and Narasimha, also known as Kumar Narasimhappa (65). All the victims were residents of Suvarnasandra in Mandya district. The bodies have been shifted to Kunigal Government Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Kunigal Police Station Inspector Madhya Nayak and his team visited the accident spot soon after the incident. A case has been registered, and further investigation is under way. (ANI)