Child tortured by seminary teacher admitted to NICH

10-year-old Ahmed Raza fainted when hit in the head after being brutally caned

Karachi 

A 10-year boy was admitted to the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) on Thursday after he was brutally tortured by his seminary teacher for being absent the previous day.

“Yesterday, I was fasting and had a headache. I told my mum that I didn’t want to go to the madrasa and she agreed. But when I reached the madrasa today, Qari Ayaz, my teacher, asked me to lie down on my stomach and he started caning my back,” said Ahmed Raza, recalling what happened to him on Thursday morning that left him unconscious when his teacher also hit the back of his head with the stick.

The boy is unaware as to how he ended up lying in a hospital bed. His uncle, Yaseen Ahmed, said he brought the boy to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre’s (JPMC) casualty ward when somebody from their neighbourhood dropped him at his home as he could not walk and was semi-unconscious from the severe beating.

Doctors at the emergency ward gave him first aid and pain-relieving medicines, and referred him to the NICH. They suggested provision of psychiatric help to the child due to mental trauma he was facing.

Dr Seemin Jamali, joint executive directive at the JPMC, said the child had been brutally tortured and there were severe torture marks on his back, arms, legs and head.

“He was in shock when he was brought here at the emergency ward. I was more concerned about his mental health than his physical wounds as they would heal soon, but the scars on his soul perhaps would never be healed.”

Jamali said a medico-legal officer examined the boy and prepared a report, according to which, an FIR should be launched against the seminary teacher. The child was taken to the emergency ward of the NICH for treatment where he was given fluids intravenously for rehydration as he was fasting when his teacher tortured him.

NICH Deputy Director Dr Arshad Domki said doctors had decided to admit the boy to the hospital for further treatment and medical examinations to see if the torture had caused damage to internal organs. He added that psychiatric help would also be provided to the child.

Lying in his hospital bed, a traumatised and scared Raza said he had memorised half of the holy Quran and he would memorise the complete holy Quran after he returned home.

“But I would never go to that madrasa again. The teacher beats the boys brutally. He twists their hands mercilessly, beats them with canes and batons, and slaps them often.”