Mufti Azizur Rehman, sons arrested in separate raids

LAHORE: Mufti Azizur Rehman, who is accused of sexually assaulting one of his students, was arrested by a team of the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) during a raid in Mianwali, officials confirmed.

Later, the CIA also claimed the arrest of Rehman's two sons, Altafur Rehman and Atiqur Rehman, on charges of threatening the victim of dire consequences for filing a case against their father. Both of them have been booked for criminal intimidation.

Lahore Model Town CIA Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Hasnain Haider, who led the raid in to arrest Rehman, told Dawn.com that Rehman was being brought back to Lahore where he will be prosecuted. Rehman would be presented in court in a day or two, he added.

Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani, while commenting on the arrest, said that police would take it as a "test case"."[We will] interrogate him, conduct scientific professional investigation, prosecute and get him convicted by the court. We want our kids protected from these child molesters and keep our society safe for our future," he added in a tweet.

The arrest comes a day after a spokesperson for the Lahore police said that Rehman had "escaped" and that officials were working on tracing the suspect. Earlier this week, police had registered a case against Rehman after a harrowing video clip of him allegedly sexually assaulting one of his students was widely shared on social media.

The North Cantonment police registered a case against Mufti Rehman for sexually assaulting the student and his three sons for attacking the complainant with the intention to exact revenge.

The case was lodged against them with non-compoundable and non-bailable offences and with punishment of imprisonment up to seven years or so.

Earlier in August last year, the suspect spearheaded a protest against actor Saba Qamar and singer Bilal for recording the video of a song at Masjid Wazir Khan.