‘Safe’ space: Seminary student ‘killed by teachers’

FAISALABAD:

Police arrested a seminary teacher on Monday after a student was brought to Faisalabad Allied Hospital late on Sunday night with serious injuries. The boy died a few hours later.

Pindi Bhattian police said Qari Habibur Rehman had been arrested from the seminary and raids were being conducted to arrest Qari Abdul Majeed.

The Pindi Bhattian SHO told The Express Tribune that nine-year-old Adnan Ali, son of Tahir Mehmood, was a student of a seminary in Mohallah Usman Ghani on Bund Road. He said on Sunday, his teachers had beaten him.

“The boy was brought to the hospital with serious injuries. He died in the intensive care unit,” the SHO said.

He said police had registered an FIR on the complaint of Tahir Mehmood, father of the deceased.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mehmood said Habib and Abdul Majeed had assaulted his son twice. He said on Sunday, he had threatened to tell his parents about it.

He said the men had then beaten his son to death.

“They did not call us and took him to a rural health centre from where he was referred to Faisalabad Allied Hospital,” he said.

“Adnan was being taken to the hospital when his friend came to my house and told me about it,” he said. “We rushed to the hospital and were able to speak to him briefly.”

He said his son told them about the abuse before he died.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2015.