Two arrested for beating school teacher

Pre-arrest bail granted to third.

GUJRANWALA:

Saddar police have arrested two of three people accused of beating up a Gujranwala board of intermediate and secondary education (BISE) mobile inspector who had on March 30 cancelled a physics exam on complaints that some students were cheating.

DSP Waseem Dar told The Express Tribune that the third suspect, Husnain, could not be arrested as he had obtained pre-arrest bail from a court on Thursday morning. Dar said the other two suspects, Saqib and Nisar, would be presented before a court on Friday. He said the police had recovered the weapon used by the suspects to beat the teacher.

An FIR was registered following a demonstration by a group of public school teachers on Wednesday night. The protesters had threatened to boycott the remaining matriculation exams underway across the province if action were not taken against the student.

The FIR stated that Husnain, a matric student, and his two accomplices, Saqib and Nisar, intercepted Asif Saeed, a board inspector and a headmaster at Government High School in Paisir Kalan, near his home in Mokhal Sandhwa village. The suspects beat him up with the butts of a gun and warned him not to take action against Husnain.

Husnain is accused by Azhar Saeed, one of the teachers at his school, of asking for his help in the physics exam on March 30. Azhar Saeed, who is the brother of Asif Saeed, had called the latter to the scene on March 30 and reported the incident. In his complaint against Husnain, Azhar Saeed also accused some of his colleagues of helping the student in earlier exams. He said head examiner Mohammad Aslam was staying at Husnain’s house in the village. In return, the complaint stated, the headmaster was helping the student with his exams.

The inspector was taken to Gujranwala district headquarters (DHQ) hospital where he was treated for his injuries he suffered in the attack.

SHO Iqbal Ojla said the FIR included Section 353 (attack on a public servant), 186 (preventing a public servant from discharging his duties), 148/149 (assault) and 506-B (attack with a weapon).

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2012.