LAHORE: The district police today (Friday) conducted raids to arrest Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman, after a video of the former JUI leader went viral in which he can purportedly be seen sexually assaulting a student.
According to details, the police raided a madressah in the city’s Township area but Rehman was not there. Police said the suspect had escaped with his sons. They added that raids at different places were being carried out to arrest the suspect.
Speaking about the raid, police said they received information of the suspect frequently staying at the seminary. A case had been registered against Rehman, his sons, and two other unidentified men after a video of the cleric provoked outrage on social media.
The case was registered on the student’s complaint when police arrived at the madressah after the video went viral. The student said Rehman had “sexually abused” him and then the cleric’s sons started “blackmailing and threatening to kill” him.
A day earlier, the superintendent of the madressah said the cleric had been fired. Superintendent Asadullah Farooq said Rehman and his sons had been asked to leave the madressah and the institution was not responsible for any of their acts.
Meanwhile, Mufti Aziz ur Rehman has called it a conspiracy against him. He first claimed that the video is fake, later, he claimed that the boy was not forced to commit any sexual act, according to him it was consensual and committed at his own will.
He also pointed out in the video Mufti cannot be seen forcing the teenage student. Interestingly, the 70-year-old cleric further claimed that he was probably drugged by the student, who secretly shot the video.
