Days after a woman journalist from Kerala VP Rajeena faced online threat and abuse for posting about child abuse in a madarsa twenty-years ago, Malayalam film director Ali Akbar has said that he too was a victim of child abuse at a madarsa years ago.

Challenging Muslim cleric Kanthapuram Abu Backer Musliyar, Ali Akbar said that the 'ustad' who had abused him is still alive and that he would be willing to reveal the details if that's what Kanthapuram wants.

Also read: What sparked the madarsa controversy? What did VP Rajeena write?

Kanthapuram on Saturday had rejected Rajeena's allegations that there were instances of child abuse in madarsas and asked for evidence to prove her statements.

Speaking to India Today, Akbar said "if he's ready to accept my challenge I am ready to reveal the details. Why should I be scared of telling the truth? It is true that I am a victim of abuse at a madarsa."

Sparking off controversies with his speech on the same day, Kanthapuram had also said that gender equality was un-islamic and impossible, and that women do not posses the mental strength that men do.

"How many female heart surgeons do you see in the world? They do not have the mental strength. Men do. Women will shiver before the controlling power of a man. Women have other capabilities that men don't. They are meant for that only," said Kanthapuram speaking at a function in Kozhikode.

VP Rajeena's post where she shared her experience about how she witnessed boys and girls of her class being abused by the 'ustad' (the madarsa teacher) had gone viral following which she received abusive comments and threats online accusing her of defaming Islam.