A cleric attached to a Muslim Orphanage in Pune has been arrested on Friday by the police for allegedly sexually abusing a child living in the orphanage.

Recently two Children aged ten years old secretly ran away from the orphanage. But later they were traced by an NGO and were produced before the Child Welfare Committee.

Police said that when a committee member asked them reasons why they ran away. They said that one Maulana Rahim sexually abuses a brother of one of them. They were very scared of him when he comes to the orphanage. He regularly used to abuse them who used to works as a teacher at the Jamia Arabiya Darul Yatima (orphanage) located at RK colony in Katraj. He has been accused of sodomizing the two 10-year-old boys.

Child rights activist Dr Yamini Adbe then lodged a police complaint. On the basis of the complaint the accused Maulana Rahim (21) was arrested. Police have rescued another 36 children said a police officer sharing the details.

Children hailing from different parts of the country especially from Bihar were given free food and lodging facilities in the orphanage. The police officer further said that now half of the children are shifted elsewhere.

The accused Rahim, who also hails from Bihar, has been booked under different sections of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Statements of all the inmates living in the orphanage will be recorded at the CWC office to find out if any other child had faced to sexual exploitation, informed an officer of the Child Welfare Committee.

In January 2018 in such another incident, a minor girl was raped and three other was sexually abused inside a Madrasa in Nanded, Maharashtra which created commotion in the state.