LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Wednesday dismissed post-arrest bail petition of former Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader Mufti Azizur Rehman in a case of sexually abusing a student of his madressah.

Earlier, Mufti Aziz’s counsel Safdar Shaheen Pirzada argued that the allegations against the petitioner were not only bogus but enormous. He said the petitioner was 67-year-old whereas the complainant was a 26-year-old young man and it was not even possible to make the complainant a victim of the alleged offence.

The counsel alleged that the complainant was hand in glove with the opponents of the petitioner at the seminary.

He argued that according to contents of the FIR, no time and date to make video of the alleged incident had been mentioned but falsity was proved in the report of the forensic science agency.

He claimed the forensic of the mobile phone and the USB furnished by the complainant found that the video was created on June 19, 2021, at 6:05pm after the registration of the FIR. He said the alleged offence had not been established in any of the medical reports of the complainant.

He said the police had completed its investigation and there was no need to keep the petitioner behind bars.

A state prosecutor opposed the bail petition and argued that indiscriminate evidence had been collected against the petitioner and his release on bail could hamper the trial proceedings. He said the petitioner could abscond if granted bail.

After hearing both sides, the magistrate dismissed the bail petition.

North Cantonment police had registered the FIR on charges of sexual assault and criminal intimidation against Mufti Aziz on the complaint of Sabir Shah, a student of Jamia Manzoorul Islam, Cantonment.

The cleric went into hiding after registration of the case as police arrested him from Mianwali.

The student had shared a video clip of the sexual assault as a proof some days ago with police and the seminary administration.

In his complaint, the student alleged that Mufti Aziz got him and another student expelled on the charge of cheating in examinations of Wafaqul Madaris for three years.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2021