Madrasa abuse reports demand a reckoning, not just moral outrage

Published : 28 October 2026

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Updated : 28 October 2026, 09:00

Samia Jaman Karobi

FILE VISUAL: SALMAN SAKIB SHAHRYAR

The recent allegations of sexual abuse involving children in some madrasas demand going beyond the public outrage we have been witnessing. They demand a reckoning with the moral architecture of our society. According to The Daily Star’s report on October 25, 2026, six madrasas in Savar, Gazipur, Kushtia, and Pabna were implicated in allegations of rape, attempted rape, and sexual abuse between October 8 and October 23—just 16 days. The alleged victims included boys and girls as young as seven, several of whom were reportedly threatened into silence. The incidents prompted outrage that turned into public protests, assaults on accused teachers, and even, in some cases, vandalism and arson. Behind these disturbing reports and the following outrage lies an unsettling question: what happens to a society when institutions, not just the madrasas in question, entrusted with moral formation fail to safeguard the vulnerable?The problem cannot be reduced to individual depravity. It must also be examined through the social mechanisms that enable abuse, which can include deference to authority, collective silence, reputational anxiety, and the normalisation of preventable suffering.In the 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, Hannah Arendt examined the relationship between wrongdoing, bureaucratic conformity, and the failure of independent moral judgement. Her concept of the “banality of evil” emerged from a specific historical context and should not be simplistically equated with sexual violence. Nevertheless, her work invites an important question about how does harm persist when individuals and institutions relinquish their responsibility to think and act ethically? When protecting an institution’s reputation becomes more urgent than protecting a child, morality is subordinated to institutional self-preservation.The predicament in Bangladesh is aggravated by a culture of accommodation. Repeated exposure to injustice can produce habituation rather than resistance. Society learns to endure what it should refuse to tolerate. Families may fear stigma, children may be intimidated into silence, and allegations may be handled through informal settlements rather than lawful procedures. There are also concerns about intimidation, local settlements, and barriers to accountability—all of which are made worse by a legal system that fails to protect the victims. Such practices transform silence from an individual response to fear into a mechanism of collective complicity.Another troubling tendency emerges when public outrage erupts: the expectation that the law alone must resolve what society itself has helped conceal. Proper investigation and accountability are indispensable, but this cannot substitute for everyday moral responsibility. Reporting abuse, listening to children, challenging relevant powerful individuals, and refusing to participate in cover-ups are civic obligations. Similarly, mob violence can’t constitute justice; it undermines due process and may jeopardise the very accountability it purports to demand.This crisis also exposes a fundamental distinction between religious instruction and ethical education. While religions can provide important moral guidance, religious literacy, ritual observance, and doctrinal proficiency do not automatically cultivate empathy, respect for bodily autonomy, or an understanding of consent. In his 1968 book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire challenges educational models that privilege passive reception over critical consciousness. His broader insight is pertinent: education that discourages questioning authority risks producing compliance without moral discernment. Children must learn not merely what to believe, but how to recognise harm, question coercion, and seek protection without shame.None of these warrants stigmatising madrasas or religious communities collectively. Abuse can occur in any institutional setting and religious identity neither establishes guilt nor guarantees virtue. So, the response must prioritise universal child safeguarding, independent oversight, confidential reporting mechanisms, appropriate staff screening, and prompt, impartial investigations.In 2009, the High Court issued guidelines requiring educational institutions and workplaces to establish complaint committees to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and take appropriate action. Subsequent court proceedings have continued to raise concerns about the implementation of these directives. More recently, in September 2026, a legal notice called for dedicated child sexual abuse prevention mechanisms across madrasas, alongside stronger oversight of child protection systems. The challenge here is to ensure that protective mechanisms operate effectively and that children in every educational setting can report abuse safely.Ultimately, the gravest moral failure is not simply that abuse occurs; it is that warning signs can be ignored, disclosures suppressed, and preventable harm allowed to continue. A society’s ethical maturity is measured not by the sanctity it attributes to its institutions, but by the safety it guarantees to those with the least power. It must ask whether its moral conviction still possesses the courage to confront authority, disrupt complacency, and defend a child when doing so becomes socially inconvenient. Until that courage becomes a collective norm, outrage will remain episodic, accountability uncertain, and the language of morality tragically disconnected from its practice.Samia Jaman Karobi*is lecturer in the Department of Law and Human Rights at R. P. Shaha University in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. She can be reached at samiajaman9919@gmail.com.****Views expressed in this article are the author's own.***FollowThe Daily Star Opinion on Facebookfor the latest opinions, commentaries, and analyses by experts and professionals. To contribute your article or letter to The Daily Star Opinion, see ourguidelines for submission.