TAXILA, Dec 9: The slogan of Maar Nahi Pyaar (love instead of punishment) of the Punjab education department, introduced by the previous provincial government, has proved to be an eyewash.

A class 8 student of Government High School, Pour Miyana, succumbed to injuries after a teacher beat him up for coming late on Friday.

The Punjab government had banned corporal punishment in government schools way back in September 2005. However, the facts suggest otherwise.

Hasnain Abid, 15, was beaten up by his teacher, Mumtaz Ahmed, with a stick for coming late to school. He was shifted to a local hospital where he died on Sunday. The student was buried in his native Jarikass village near Hassanabdal.

The hospital staff confirmed that the cause of death was torture.

Talking to newsmen, Abid Hussain, the father of the victim, said his son often complained about his teacher who used to beat students.

He said they were poor and his son traveled miles to reach his school even during the cold weather.

Saima Khalid Masood, vice-president of Human and Environment Development Association (HEDA), an NGO working in the area, was of the opinion that such incidents were ‘detrimental’ to the country’s academic environment and could not be accepted under any circumstances.

She stressed that corporal punishment in schools must be monitored and the guilty teachers be brought to justice.

Another civil society activist, Munaza Peerzada, said under Article 25-A of the Constitution, there should be zero tolerance for corporal punishment.

When contacted, DSP Shahid Sarwar said that he himself attended the funeral of the victim to show solidarity and full support of the police and the administration.

The DSP said the teacher had been arrested and a murder case registered against him.

Meanwhile taking notice of the incident, the district education department has suspended the accused teacher as well as the headmaster for negligence and ordered departmental inquiry against them.

An official from the district administration said the school had also been closed for an indefinite period to avert any untoward incident.

It may be recalled here that a grade 5 student of a private school, Maqsoodur Rehman, had died after being beaten by his teacher in Taxila on August 13, 2011.