A religious teacher was arrested in Wah Cantonment on Monday for attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl who used to come to his house to learn the Holy Quran, police said.

According to the First Information Report (FIR) of the case registered on the victim's father's complaint, the victim used to visit the residence of a female Quran teacher in their neighbourhood to study the holy book.

The father stated in the complaint that on February 16, 2019, his daughter went to the Quran teacher's house after Fajr (morning) prayers. However, she came running back home after a short while and started weeping.

Read: I was sexually abused and discovered my friends were too

Frightened and shaken, the minor girl did not initially describe her ordeal. But after about 30 minutes, according to her father, she revealed that the brother of her Quran teacher — who also tutored students on the holy book — had tried to sexually assault her.

The suspect had let the victim go after she started screaming, but threatened to kill her if she described the incident to anyone, according to the FIR.

The father revealed that when his wife went to the suspect's house after learning about the incident, other women from the area gathered there as well. They claimed that the suspect had assaulted their sons and daughters as well, but they had previously kept mum about it.

Station House Officer Wah Saddar Raja Aizaz Azeem told DawnNewsTV that the suspect was previously booked in 2016 for attempting to sexually assault a minor girl.

However, despite serving jail time in the previous case, the suspect had persisted in attempts to sexually abuse other minor girls, the SHO added.

The suspect has been arrested and a case was registered against him under Sections 376 (rape) and 511 (attempt to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter term).

The suspect will be presented before a local court on Tuesday for his physical remand, SHO Azeem told DawnNewsTV.