Cleric confesses to sexually assaulting his student

Former Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leader and cleric Mufti Azizur Rehman on Monday confessed to sexually assaulting his student, Dawn reported.

Citing Deputy Inspector General of Police (investigations) Shariq Jamal Khan, the report stated that said the cleric had confessed that the incident’s video, which went viral on social media a few days ago, had featured him and was secretly filmed by the student who was being sexually abused.

“I made the student a target of my lust with the lure of passing him [in his exams],” he admitted to the police. The cleric added that he was afraid and worried once the video went viral on social media and his sons had attempted to threaten the student and stop him from mentioning the incident to anyone.

“I released the video statement because I did not want to leave the madrassah. The madrassah administration had already told me to leave,” the DIG quoted him as saying. Rehman admitted that he had been hiding in Mianwali and was arrested by the police after being traced through his cellphone.

“I am very ashamed at what I did,” he said during the interrogation.

The DIG said that all medical and forensic evidence was being collected in the case and “we will try to present a strong challan to secure a punishment.” He added that the cleric’s sons were also accused of making death threats.

The DIG also said that any other affected citizen could reach out and contact the police, adding that there was substantial evidence to prosecute in the case. He said that a life sentence or a prison term of up to 10 years was possible in the case.

Prime Minister Imran Khan himself had taken notice of the case, said the DIG, and was in contact with police officials prior to the cleric’s arrest. “[The] Punjab IG (inspector general of police) informed him about the arrest.”

Earlier in the day, a North Cantt Court in Lahore granted a four-day physical remand of Rehman to CIA Police.

The court also ordered a DNA test and medical checkup of the cleric.

On Sunday, the police arrested Rehman, accused of sexually abusing his seminary student, from Mianwali. The police had also arrested Rehman’s two sons from Lahore and Lakki Marwat. A case has been registered by the Lahore Police against Rehman, his sons and two unidentified persons. A team of the Lahore Police arrested Rehman in a late-night raid in Mianwali.

The 70-year-old religious cleric and the JUI-F’s deputy ameer in Lahore is now in police lock-up after an FIR was lodged against him for sexually assaulting one of his seminary pupils.

Lahore Police said that Rehman’s student Sabir Shah lodged an FIR in North Cantt Police Station in which he claimed his teacher blackmailed him after he failed in one of his examinations and demanded sexual favours in return. The video went viral on social media and was widely condemned with people demanding immediate action.

Teary-eyed Sabir Shah in the video said that his life was in danger as Rehman’s sons threatened to kill him for exposing Rehman. JUI-F has also suspended the membership of Rehman.

The case has been registered at the North Cantt police station on the complaint of the student under Section 377 (unnatural offences) and Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The victim said that during the exams, Rehman had accused him and another student of cheating by getting someone else to sit for the exams. “Over this, I was also banned from giving exams at the Wafaqul Madaris for three years,” he said in the complaint.

Also, the victim said he complained to the madrassah’s administration but they refused to believe him as Rehman was an “elder and a pious man”.

Rehman had denied the accusation of sexual abuse in a video statement and claimed that he was drugged by his student before he was filmed. “In fact, the boy gave me sedatives in my tea and after that I was not in my senses,” he had said. “The biggest proof is that my body was not even moving. If I were in my senses, how could I have not known that he was making a video from his phone?”

The cleric had claimed that the videos were a conspiracy to remove him from Jamia Manzoorul Islamia, Lahore. He was terminated by his madrassa and his party, the JUI-F, suspended his party membership after the videos went viral.

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