Child of Filipino national allegedly molested by cleric

ISLAMABAD: The capital police on Wednesday arrested a cleric allegedly for molesting a child in the jurisdiction of Koral police station.

The accused identified as Muhammad Aslam, 30, hails from Layyah and is a cleric and teaches Quran at Jamia Masjid, Marwah Town of the city.

According to a complaint registered by child’s father two days earlier, the accused allegedly molested the child, Jibran Shafique, 12.

“He harassed my son, threatened him with a knife and took him to his lodgings [hujra] after Quran lessons and then molested him on January 28, 2018, at 6:30 pm,” Jibran’s father claimed in the FIR, available with Pakistan Today.

Jibran is a son of a Filipino national and Tahir Mehmood, a Pakistani citizen hails from Kotli Satian, Rawalpindi district.

The Koral police had registered a case against Aslam with section 377 of Pakistan Penal Code (unnatural offences). According to the section 337, “Whoever voluntarily [or involuntarily] has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than two years nor more than ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

Talking to Pakistan Today, PS Koral SHO Abdul Gafoor said that the accused had been sent on a 14-day judicial remand.

Tahir, in his application, claimed that he brought this matter first in the knowledge of some trustful neighbours and raided the said mosque himself; however, the accused managed to flee with the help of some locals on Wednesday.

Later on, Islamabad Rural Area Superintendent Police Hassan Bin Iqbal in a raid at a tea-stall near Khanna Pul arrested the accused Aslam, who was then produced before the court and sent on a judicial remand.