Pakistan police: Cleric confessed to sexually assaulting student

Police say cleric confessed to promising passing grades in exchange for ‘sexual favours’ from a male student.

A religious cleric accused of sexually assaulting a student at a religious school in Pakistan’s second-largest city of Lahore has been arrested and has confessed to his crimes, police say, after widespread public outcry following the allegations. Aziz-ur-Rehman, who was arrested from the northwestern town of Mianwali on Saturday, had earlier denied the allegations in a video released on social media. “We have been able to arrest this criminal. We will take it as a test case, interrogate him, conduct scientific professional investigation, prosecute and get him convicted by the court,” said Inam Ghani, the provincial police chief in Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital.