Mufti Aziz, six others formally charged with sexual assault of madrassah student

• Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman, others indicted in case refuse to confess to the charges.
• Court summons the witnesses in the case on the next hearing.
• Police had registered a case against Aziz on June 17.

LAHORE: A local court in the provincial capital has indicted Mufti Aziz-ur-Rehman and six others, including his sons, in the sexual assault case of a madrassah student.

The court has summoned the witnesses in the case at the next hearing, as Aziz and the others indicted have refused to confess to the charges.

The former JUI-F leader, on June 21, had confessed to his crime during interrogation, police had said. Aziz had admitted that the viral video featured him and it was stealthily filmed by his student.

Police registers case against Aziz

It should be recalled that the police had registered a case against Aziz, his sons, and two other unidentified men on June 17, after a video of the cleric, which showed him sexually assaulting a student, provoked outrage on social media.

Thereafter, the police raided the madrassah to look for Aziz and his sons as it was reported he frequently stayed at the seminary.

In his video, the student said Aziz had "sexually abused" him and then the cleric's sons started "blackmailing and threatening to kill" him.

"If justice is not done, I will commit suicide," the student had warned.

Superintendent Asadullah Farooq said Aziz and his sons had been asked to leave the madrassah and the institution was not responsible for any of their acts.

Mufti says he was 'intoxicated'

Before his confession, Aziz had claimed that the video was two-and-a-half years to three-year-old and that the student was being "used against" him.

"I declare under oath that I did not do such an act in my consciousness. I was given something intoxicating and I was not conscious," he had claimed in a video message.

When the incident came to light, JUI Lahore's secretary-general had issued a notice, stating the party had suspended the membership of Mufti Aziz and that it would remain revoked till the investigation concludes.