According to the Police, a young student was hit until death by his MADRESSAH teachers on Monday night in Swat Chaliyar village, according to the police.
Swat district police spokesman Moin Fayaz said in a statement that the victim, Farhan, had lost classes for a few days before the incident occurred.
Police and eyewitnesses said three teachers beat Farhan in front of their classmates.
“He had just returned to school after being absent for a few days,” said one of Farhan’s classmates, who decided not to be named.
“Our teachers began to hit him hard. Later, they dragged him to a side room and continued hitting him. They called me to bring water. He drank a little, then put his head in my lap, and simply remained silent.”
Farhan was urgently taken to the nearest hospital by students and teachers, but the doctors declared him dead upon arrival, according to Fayaz.
A first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with Dawn.comIt has been registered against the three suspects under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and section 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Criminal Code, as well as section 37 (punishment for violence) of the Child Protection Law (CPA).
“One of the suspects has been arrested, while efforts are being made to arrest the other two.
“This is a deeply disturbing case. An thorough investigation is ongoing and we are committed to guaranteeing justice for the child and his family,” Fayaz said.
Farhan’s uncle, Saddar Ayaz, told him Dawn.com That when his nephew was at home, he was afraid to return to the Madressah and did not want to return.
“I took it to the seminar, I gave it to the teachers and returned,” said Ayaz. “Later that night, one of the teachers called me and told me that my nephew had fallen in the bathroom and died.”
Human rights groups and local residents have demanded actions, not only to punish those responsible, but to avoid future tragedies.
“Farhan could have been any of our children,” said Haider Ali, a local old man. “He went to study. He never returned.”
According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Law and its 2018 regulations, corporal punishment is a punishable crime, whose violation can result in up to six months in prison or a fine of RS50,000, or both.
In May of this year, the regulatory authority of the private schools of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, through a notification, strictly prohibited corporal punishment in all private schools throughout the province after receiving complaints.
Violations, however, continue to prevail. According to a recent report by the KP Child Protection and Welfare Commission (KPCPWC), children from all over the province were submitted to 33 different forms of abuse, including 14 corporal punishment incidents.
In April, a seminar teacher at Kasur was arrested allegedly hitting a student with a hot iron for not memorizing his lesson in Bangla Kambovan.
