India, Sept. 26 -- Forty minor girls, aged seven to 14, were discovered locked inside a toilet at an unregistered madrasa in Payagpur tehsil, Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh, during a Wednesday evening inspection by the district administration.

The action followed reports that the owner of the three-storey building in Pahalpurwa village was operating the institution without the necessary permissions.

Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) of Payagpur, Ashwini Kumar Pandey, stated that the district administration had received repeated complaints regarding an illegal madrasa operating in a three-storey building in Pahalwara village under Payagpur tehsil. The madrasa has now been shut down.

"On Wednesday, during our inspection, the madrasa oper...