KABUL, July 23: An Afghan cleric has been arrested after allegedly raping a young schoolgirl in the country’s north on the second day of the Ramazan, Afghan security officials said on Monday.

The cleric, named by the interior ministry in a statement as Mawlavi Sayed Ahmad, was arrested on Saturday after local residents caught him with the 10-year-old girl in Aybak city, in northern Samangan province.

Police said the girl was now under treatment at a hospital, while Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission described the incident as “terrible”.

“The mullah used to go to the schoolgirl’s house, teaching her Islamic studies. The mullah raped her after the evening prayers on Saturday,” a local police official said. —Reuters