Police arrest cleric in molestation case
PHOTO: FILE
Punjab Police on Sunday arrested a JUI-F leader, Mufti Aziz for allegedly molesting his student. The 70-year-old cleric was booked after a video of him sexually assaulting the student went viral on social media platforms.
After several botched attempts, Lahore police arrested the cleric who was booked for molesting the seminary student.
The cleric had been on the run after being booked on sexual assault charges. The charges came after the assault survivor released a footage of the cleric molesting him.
On June 16, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the 70-year-old on the survivor’s complaint.
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The alleged molester and his sons had reportedly threatened to kill the survivor.
Investigation police arrested two of the cleric’s sons Ateeq from Kahna and Altaf from Laki Marwat. Raids were underway to nab the suspect’s third son Lateef and his friend Abdullah.
Punjab IGP Inam Ghani said, “We have been able to arrest this criminal. We will take it as a test case, interrogate him, conduct scientific professional investigation, prosecute and get him convicted by the court.”
He added, “We want our children protected from these molesters and keep our society safe for all.”
The complainant stated in the FIR that the cleric had earlier blamed the victim for letting another student take his exam. He added that the suspect offered to pass me in the exams in exchange for sexual favours.”
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2021.