Cleric tortures student for not learning lesson

Victim’s parents demand CM take stern action against cleric.

MULTAN: An 11-year-old boy was beaten and tortured by a cleric for not learning his lesson at a religious seminary in Vehari District on Tuesday.

While speaking to The Express Tribune, father of the victim, Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah Bukhari, said his son Muhammad Bilal was tortured by his teacher Qari Muhammad Fayyaz at Faizan-e-Madina Madrassa.

He added the cleric shaved off his son’s head after beating him mercilessly. He added Qari Fayyaz also hit his son in the abdomen with a steel rod. “He also broke his teeth by punching on Muhammad Bilal’s face,” Iftikhar lamented.

He pointed out, “When my son started bleeding, his class fellow informed me and I immediately rushed to the seminary and took my son to the hospital in an unconscious state.”



Meanwhile, Muhammad Bilal told The Express Tribune that Qari Muhammad Fayyaz used to torture other boys and it was his routine matter. He maintained the cleric shaved heads of many other boys studying in the same seminary. It was a routine punishment, he said.

The parents of the victim demanded of the Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take notice of the matter and initiate legal proceedings against the cleric. When contacted, Qari Fayyaz told The Express Tribune that he had shaved the heads of many students because of hot weather. However, he denied the torture inflicted upon the student.

Earlier, a 10-year-old seminary student was allegedly tortured by his teacher at Noorpur village in Pakpattan. The victim Tayyab was beaten and tortured by the cleric for refusing to work as a labourer in the construction of the mosque.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2017.