MUZAFFARABAD: The principal of a private middle school was arrested by city police here on Monday after an undergraduate student accused him of blackmailing and sexually abusing him.

The victim, in the first information report (FIR) stated that the abuse happened when he was studying in the suspect’s institution located on the outskirts of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) capital.

Station House Officer (SHO) Rashid Habib Masoodi told Dawn that an FIR had been lodged against the suspect on the complaint of the victim who was in possession of pictorial evidence of the unnatural offence being committed.

The victim approached police along with his father saying he had taken this step at the end of his tether following persistent blackmailing by the suspect, the SHO said.

According to the victim, the suspect had sexually abused him and filmed it, around six years ago.

“And when, after gaining consciousness, I refused to fulfill his desire he threatened to circulate the videos and pictures in his possession. Out of this fear, I kept on resigning myself to his lustfulness. But now I am fed up with this life. I want the police to apprehend this offender and award him exemplary punishment,” the victim had stated in his complaint, according to the SHO.

Mr Masoodi said the victim had revealed his ordeal to his parents only a few days ago and as the suspect got wind of it he left Muzaffarabad.

However, on Monday the police took the suspect into custody when he was returning home via public transport.

The suspect, who is in his early forties and married with children, confessed to committing the crime but claimed that the victim had been blackmailing him into doing this to him.

“However, this is his claim to save his skin. Exact and actual situation will be clear in investigations which we will initiate after obtaining his physical remand from a magistrate on Tuesday,” SHO Masoodi said.

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2021