Forbidden Fruit: Seminary student ends up in hospital

FAISALABAD: A nine-year-old boy fainted from a beating by his teacher on Monday in Sadar area. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later reported to be out of danger. Police said Hasan Raza, a student at an academy in Fareed Town on Jaranwala Road, had picked some fruit from the seminary lawn without his teacher’s permission. They said his teacher Qari Ismail beat him with an iron rod until he fainted. Some of the fellow students informed his parents. When they reached the seminary, they said, he was not there. They later found the boy at another student’s home, where the teacher had left him before he fled. Raza was taken to the district headquarter hospital, where doctors treating him said that he was now out of danger. His family complained that the police were informed but did not take any action. Sadar police station officials said they cannot initiate any action unless the family filed a formal complaint.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2012.