LAHORE: A Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl leader requested a court to grant him post-arrest bail in a case involving claims of forced sex with a male seminary student, days after a similar petition of his was dismissed by a judge.
Aziz ur-Rehman, a religious teacher at Jamia Manzoor ul-Islamia in Lahore, was arrested in June following the registration of a police case on charges of sexual assault and criminal intimidation against him.
While the cleric, 67, initially confessed to having made the 26-year-old student a target of his lust with the lure of passing him in the exams, he later retracted his statement, claiming the police had forced him to admit to the crime.
Earlier this week, a judicial magistrate dismissed his post-arrest bail request after the prosecutor in the case opposed the bail and argued that indiscriminate evidence had been collected against the cleric and his release on bail could hamper the trial proceedings.
The latest petition describes Rehman as “an innocent [and a] law-abiding citizen” who it insists has been “falsely and maliciously” implicated in the case.
Rehman further claims to be the victim of a conspiracy and “madrassah politics”, alleging that the case was hatched “in connivance with police”.
The counsel for the cleric, Safdar Shaheen Pirzada, said Rehman “could not even think of committing a crime as grave as this”. “The police have completed the investigation against him so there’s no point in keeping him behind bars.”
Rehman is ready to submit surety bonds, he said, adding the court should grant him bail.
The police submitted the challan in the case at a hearing on Friday. The confessional statement proved Rehman had been subjecting the complainant to rape over a span of time. At least 22 witnesses have been named in the challan.
Judicial Magistrate Rana Rashid will resume the proceedings on September 20 (Monday).
