On the run: Cleric booked for thrashing boy

Father of victim says absconding suspect used electric iron to torture his son

LAHORE: A cleric was booked on charges of physically assaulting and trying to molest a child in Barki on Tuesday.

A case (448/16) was registered on the complaint of Asif*, father of the victim Rashid*, against suspect Qari Asim for thrashing his child.

The complainant said his son studied at a madrassah in the village. He said his son went to the seminary where the cleric tried to physically assault him. The boy started crying and drew the attention of passers-by and this prompted the suspect to immediately flee from the scene.

Police reached the spot, collected forensic evidence and recorded the statements of the eyewitnesses.

Cantt SP Rana Tahir said the matter was being investigated and that a team had been formed to arrest the suspect at the earliest.

Asif said Qari Asim had come to their house some days ago and asked the family not to send their boy to the seminary. “Your son is a spoiled child. I do not want to teach him”, the father said, quoting the cleric.

However, Rashid continued going for his religious classes. The victim was on the swings in front of the madrassah, Al-Kher, when the cleric sent three boys out to bring him in, Asif added. He claimed the suspect took Rashid to the hujra, locked the doors from the inside and started beating him brutally.

The father went on to say that the qari even used an electric iron to torture him. He continued that his son was in such a delicate state that he was unable to walk. “No one can understand the reason for such brutality.” He also feared that the boy was also molested.

Asif said he was a laborer and would send his son for religious education early in the morning. He recalled that his son would stay at the madrassah till late at night and return home only to sleep. He concluded by demanding justice. (* names changed to protect identity)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2016.