Afghan police arrested the parents of a 14-year-old girl for cutting off the ears and nose of a cleric who had reportedly assaulted her sexually.

After the daughter revealed to her parents that the cleric had sexually accosted her on several occasions, the father was said to have invited the cleric to their home for dinner and proceeded to hack off his nose and ears. Police say the father tied up the cleric before exacting his revenge.

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Although the cleric denies all charges, police have opened a case against him after taking the parents into custody on Tuesday.

The father of the girl confessed to cutting off the nose and ears of the cleric, adding that he is not sure if one severed body parts was eaten by a cat while confirming that the cleric's nose had gone down the drain.

Rights activists have expressed concern over the rise in violent acts against women in Afghanistan after the Taliban government was ousted in 2001, and this case is just one of many in a country still struggling to provide women with equal rights.

Although the main objective of the war led by the U.S. was to establish equal rights for women in the deeply conservative Muslim country, Afghanistan has yet to see these ideals fully take shape.

In rural Afghanistan, sharia, or religious law often takes precedence over constitutional law which is why the parents decided in this case to take matters into their own hands.

"If there was a functioning rule of law, then he would be punished even more severely," the girl's mother said.