A sessions court in Lahore dismissed on Friday the bail petition of former Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader Mufti Azizur Rehman, who is accused of sexually abusing a student of his madressah.

       Additional Sessions Judge Noman Muhammad Naeem rejected the post-arrest bail plea after the completion of arguments by the lawyers.

       This is the second time that the court has denied bail to Mufti Aziz, who was arrested in June this year after police had registered an FIR against him on charges of sexually assaulting a student of his madressah, Jamia Manzoorul Islam, in Lahore.

       The case was registered on the complaint of the victim under Section 377 (unnatural offences) and Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

       In his complaint, the student had alleged that Mufti Aziz got him and another student expelled on the charge of cheating in examinations of Wafaqul Madaris for three years.

       The student had also shared a video clip of the sexual assault as proof with police and the seminary administration.

       Mufti Aziz's five sons have also been booked in the case for attacking the complainant with the intention to exact revenge and all of them have been granted bail.

       However, Mufti Aziz remains under arrest as his first bail petition was rejected by a judicial magistrate in Lahore last month. The cleric had then approached a district and sessions court for the grant of a post-arrest bail, which was denied on Friday.

       A sessions court had indicted him and his five sons in the case earlier this month.