A Rawalpindi court has issued an injunction against the arrest of a madrasa cleric and his woman colleague in a rape case lodged by a girl student who claims the cleric Mufti Shah Nawaz raped her when she was brought to him by the co-accused Ishrat Bibi.

The court had released both the accused approving their interim bail on Tuesday. However, the police added new charges in the FIR under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and re-arrested them, reportedly as soon as they left the court after approval of the interim bail.

Nawaz and Ishrat Bibi were produced before the court on Wednesday. Additional session Judge Malik Asif Ejaz declared the arrests unlawful.

The police maintained that the arrests were made after new sections were added to the FIR. The judge said the interim bail is granted in response to an FIR, not sections contained in the FIR.

The judge declared that they had been released under interim bail and cannot be arrested. He issued an injunction saying police must not arrest them before August 30, when the interim bail expires.

The court on Tuesday also released Nawaz’s brother, nephew, and co-worker against surety bonds worth Rs50,000. They were arrested when the police carried out raids in Rawalpindi’s Chakri areas, Mansehra’s Oghi village, and Hassan Abdal city. All of them reportedly worked at the same madrasa.

What is madrasa rape case?

The case involves a girls” madrasa located in the Pirwadhai area of Rawalpindi. Most of the details come from an FIR that the victim’s mother got registered at the Pirwadhai police station.

According to the FIR, the victim’s mother said her daughter was a student at the madrasa for the last seven years. She said that the madrasa management called her on the day of the crime and requested her to collect her daughter from the madrasa as she had fainted.

The girl’s family also lives in Pirwadhai but it is not clear from the contents of the FIR if she was a boarding student or day student.

The mother sent her son Rehan to bring the girl back from the madrasa. When the girl entered home, the mother saw torture marks on her face. Seeing her mother, the girl began to wail and vehemently weep. She informed her mother that the principal had been harassing her for the last five to six months but she always managed to avoid him. She said he had also been threatening her that if she told anyone about it, he would kill her.

The FIR said that one of the teachers of the madrasa, Ishrat, took the girl to the principal’s room where he attempted to sexually assault her. However, when the victim resisted, she was assaulted by both the teacher and principal.

The victim’s mother claimed that she fainted after being given a potion and she did not remember what happened to her afterwards.

The FIR was registered under section sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter term) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Charges under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter term) of the Pakistan Penal Code are included in the FiR.



source https://www.samaa.tv/news/2021/08/madrasa-rape-accused-woman-accomplice-win-injunction-against-arrest/