A 40-year-old woman registered a case against her son-in-law in Punjab’s Bhadar village on Thursday, in which she accused a ‘djinn’ of taking over him and forcing him to commit sexual assault.

According to the first information report (FIR) filed with the Kakrali police, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the case was registered under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The victim alleged that her 18-year-old son-in-law had sexually assaulted her multiple times, but claimed that he was being possessed by a djinn and controlled into doing so.

“A djinn named Adil is in love with me,” she claimed according to the FIR, adding that whenever he “gains control” of the suspect, he “does not become normal until he has sex with [her]”.

The victim added that the incidents had “destroyed” her home life and requested legal action to be taken against the suspect.

Reports of ‘djinns’ being responsible for criminal activity are uncommon, but not unheard of in Pakistan. In September, the Lahore High Court summoned the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP) in a petition seeking the recovery of a woman who had gone missing six years ago and was still unrecovered; according to the complainant and the police, the victim’s in-laws insisted she had been kidnapped by a djinn.