Corporal punishment: Seminary teacher booked for beating student

Abdul Hameed,12, refuses to go back to the same seminary.

HARIPUR:

A seminary teacher was accused of subjecting a student to corporal punishment for being absent from class on Monday. The victim’s mother, Fakharun Nisa of Alooli village, told the police and newsmen that her son Abdul Hameed, 12, a fifth grader, was memorising the Holy Quran from a local seminary at Telian Mohalla for the last one year.

On Saturday, he went to attend a relative’s marriage ceremony without taking leave from the teacher. When he returned to class on Monday, Qari Tahir, the seminary teacher , subjected him to severe corporal punishment, she said. He beat him with a stick repeatedly for some time, due to which his body bore torture marks, Nisa added. The boy was taken to Women and Children Hospital Haripur, where his medical examination was carried out and the duty doctor confirmed that the boy was badly bruised and his right arm also developed a hairline fracture.

The police have registered a case and started investigation. The boy, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that the teacher reacted to minor mistakes and beat the students daily.

The victim refused to go to the seminary again, adding that he had learnt the first paara by heart and would get admission in some other seminary to complete the rest.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2012.