Sarang Shar, a former school teacher facing accusations of child rape, has disappeared from his native village following a social media outcry over his release last week from jail. Shar’s family says he has been whisked away by the police but the regional police head has refuted their claims.

Shar was arrested in 2020 when three FIRs were registered against him on the complaints of his students who accused him of attempted rape. A video also surfaced on social media and allegedly showed him raping a young boy.

However, a court acquitted Shar following a reconciliation with the parents, who forgave him.

His release led to a social media outcry and Sindh government officials indicated that an appeal will be filed challenging his acquittal.

But now the man has disappeared from his village, Thari Mirwah.

SSP Khairpur Mir Rohal Khan Khoso has denied allegations of the family of Sarang Shar regarding his arrest.

“Sarang Shar is not in our custody,” SSP Khan told Aaj News.

Shar’s family has alleged that police arrested him despite his acquittal. Speaking with Aaj News the family members said they feared the police might ‘full fry’ or ‘half fry’ him — the two terms widely used in Sindh to refer to the outcome of police encounters. Anyone killed in a fake police encounter is described as “fully fried” and injured as “half fried”.

Police FIRs says in July 2020, Sarang Shar, 63, a retired school teacher from Taarko School of Tehsil Thari Mirwah attempted to rape three students ages, 10, 12, and 15 at his home in the guise of providing them home tuition.

Sarang Shar was convicted and sent to jail after a video showing him raping a child went viral on social media.

In a hearing on April 27, Additional and Session Judge IV Samina Mangi instructed the prison administration to free the convict after the parents of three victims pardoned him. He spent two years and nine months behind bars at the central jail in Khairpur.

Sindh Chief Minister’s Law Adviser, Murtaza Wahab said in a tweet on April 29, “Sindh Govt will be filing an appeal as soon as written judgment is issued. So far just a short order acquitting Sarang Shar, clearly shown to be molesting the child in a video, has been announced by the court.”

Two days after the hearing, the Sindh Human Rights Commission announced that their legal team was on its way to Sukkur to investigate the acquittal of Sarang Shar.