Seminary head accused of molestation injured in attack

MANSEHRA: The head of a seminary, who was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting his student, was seriously injured in an attack carried out reportedly by the uncle of the victim (survivor boy) here on Wednesday.

“We have lodged a first information report (FIR) and started raids to arrest the suspect who fled after the indiscriminate firing which left two people injured,” Zahoor Babar Afridi, the district police officer, told reporters.

Iqbal Kohistani stated to be the uncle of the victim hailed from the Palas area of Kohistan, allegedly fired upon Qari Shamsudeen when he was buying chicken in a shop in the Badra Chowk in the heart of the city.

He and a young employee of the chicken shop, Mohammad Sharafat, suffered bullet injuries. They were rushed to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital where the condition of both of them was stated to be critical.

According to the FIR, lodged under Section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code by the city police, Shamsudeen was on his way back to the Perhana area after appearing in the local court when the suspect allegedly fired at him.

“Iqbal came to me when I was on the way back home and asked me to settle the case out of court, I refused to indulge in any reconciliations as it is sub judice and later he opened fire indiscriminately at me when I was shopping,” the police quoted Shamsudeen as saying in the FIR.

Qari Shamsudeen had allegedly sexually assaulted a student of his seminary on December 24, 2020, and the incident was decried by civil society across the country.The Khyber Pakh-tunkhwa Assembly had debated this sexual assault case and passed a resolution stressing tougher legislation to curb such crimes against children.