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A cleric who allegedly beat his eight-year-old pupil to death at a seminary in Karachi's Bin Qasim Town area on Sunday was pardoned by the victim's family on Monday, Station House Officer Dhani Bux Marri said.
Despite the pardoning, police nonetheless proceeded to register a first information report (FIR) against the accused on behalf of the state under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Mohammed Hussain had allegedly been subjected to corporal punishment by Qari Najmuddin in the past, after which he had run away from the seminary.
His parents, however, brought him back to the seminary on Friday. When the student tried to flee again, Qari Najmuddin got hold of him and allegedly beat him to death with a blunt weapon.
He was taken into custody, but the victim's parents were reluctant to press charges and had even refused to allow a post-mortem examination to be conducted on the child's body.
Corporal punishment is prohibited in Sindh under a law passed by the provincial assembly in February 2017.
The said law gives children protection against punishments to cause pain or discomfort by hitting, smacking, slapping, spanking, kicking, shaking or throwing a child; scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing their ears; or forcing child to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion by any person in the family, workplace, in schools, other educational institutions, etc.
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Comments (52) Closed
Jan 22, 2018 03:54pm
its inexplicable. State needs to interfere here. the poor ppl are at mercy of rich and influential.
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Jan 22, 2018 03:58pm
What a dark ages these people are living in, send your child to seminary to be beaten to death and then pardon the accused. This is like living in the dark ages, Pakistan needs education badly otherwise there is no hope.
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Jan 22, 2018 03:58pm
what made the family to pardon the accused.there must be some pressure
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Jan 22, 2018 03:58pm
Sad for the boy to have faced such situation and lost his life. The family's response is appalling.
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Jan 22, 2018 03:59pm
unbelievable !!!
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Jan 22, 2018 04:07pm
How come in a murder case post mortem is a choice given to the surviving family members?
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Jan 22, 2018 04:11pm
Why can't the the government becomes civilised and pass a law that says that the state and only the state will be responsible for pressing charges making whimsical victims irrelevant
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Jan 22, 2018 04:13pm
The state should take over all prosecutions regardless of victims viewpoints. A law should be passed to make this mandatory.
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Jan 22, 2018 04:21pm
the parents should be charged for gross parental neglect. This is ridiculous.
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Jan 22, 2018 04:31pm
The parents have pardoned, but the State of Pakistan should not.
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Jan 22, 2018 04:32pm
@wolverine Parents are not owners of their child. He is an individual and has rights as a child. Is it acceptable in Pakistan that .patent can decide on the pardon? What ia court doing?
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Jan 22, 2018 04:50pm
Really very kind and so blind!
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Jan 22, 2018 04:53pm
He should be brought to justice, no matter if he is pardoned or not by the family. He killed a child.
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Jan 22, 2018 04:57pm
Good job by the parents !
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Jan 22, 2018 05:03pm
Brutal manslaughter/murder of a minor the state needs to act, regardless whether the parents of the deceased forgive the offender!
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Jan 22, 2018 05:06pm
For any unnatural death an autopsy must be performed.The state must prosecute if a crime was committed irrespective of the parents decisions. The parents can to forgive the perpetrators or press charges.
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Jan 22, 2018 05:08pm
The boy was treasure of Pakistan youth. Parents have no jurisdiction on this case, the state needs to punish the guilty suo-moto.
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Jan 22, 2018 05:09pm
There is more to this story, than meets the eye, or ear, I'm sure. Someone callously beats your child to death and you will casually forgive him??
Something is definetely fishy here.
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Jan 22, 2018 05:15pm
Nobody can pardon the accused for this brutal murder. Even the victim's parents don't have the rights. The murderer must be brought to justice.
My people of Pakistan!!! where have we come? Thinking about how the small child being beaten to death by a sinful monster, I am feeling so sad and helpless. First of all, why did the child run away, why an eight year old boy will run away? He might have been subjected to severe abuse, that is the only probable explanation. The killer must face severe punishment.
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Jan 22, 2018 05:17pm
great ..so all is well now!!
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Jan 22, 2018 05:38pm
very sad!
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Jan 22, 2018 05:41pm
What??? the parents pardoned the cleric?
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Jan 22, 2018 05:48pm
Belabour of child requires investigation against family members who permit so. That may involve property confiscation of the deceased by relatives for it is said that the child is orphan.
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Jan 22, 2018 06:03pm
State must interfere to lodge the FIR. It is society at risk from such charcaters. Parents are apparently poor and under pressure.
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Jan 22, 2018 06:20pm
@wolverine
I agree with you.....
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Jan 22, 2018 06:53pm
@Abhi Sad for the boy to have faced such situation and lost his life. The family's response is appalling.
They were probably threatened .
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Jan 22, 2018 07:15pm
He is a serious threat to other children reading in the madrassa . He needs to be given exemplary punishment. The parents who forgave him must be counselled properly.
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Jan 22, 2018 07:16pm
So sad - I am lost for words .
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Jan 22, 2018 07:20pm
This is ridiculous! What kind of parents are these???
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Jan 22, 2018 07:32pm
Such cases should not be for parents to forgive...
The Qari needs to be punished, if not, there will be a second case and then a 3rd...
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Jan 22, 2018 08:03pm
parents like these people should be also punished..they should be deprived of right to live with their remaining children and that cleric should also be beaten to death.. its heart wrenching ....wht an ordeal that child would have gone through before succumbing to his injuries
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Jan 22, 2018 08:09pm
Will the teacher be allowed to continue teaching at the Madrasha? He is a threat to all the other children.
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Jan 22, 2018 08:34pm
The things are sadly out of control in Pakistan. Parents forgiving killer cleric means they are letting a murderer go free so that he can repeat what he has done
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Jan 22, 2018 08:55pm
Govt of Pakistan should proceed against the teacher, if parents dont want.
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Jan 22, 2018 09:12pm
FIR must be registered against such parents too.
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Jan 22, 2018 09:15pm
really?
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Jan 22, 2018 09:21pm
Crime is committed against the state, they must charge him.
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Jan 22, 2018 09:50pm
How many children do those parents have? How much is their income? If they can't feed and take care of their children's education expenditures then why did they give birth to that boy? Are those parents educated?
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Jan 22, 2018 10:02pm
Finally a good action by the police to file a case regardless.
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Jan 23, 2018 01:51am
Pardon the murderer so he can go on killing other children. This generosity in pardoning a killer defies sense and logic.
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Jan 23, 2018 01:49pm
The boy was probably running away from sustained sexual harassment like the others that have come out. But seriously, when is Pakistan going to get out of dark ages? When will the people stand up for better governance? Aren’t there any leaders in the youth than can come out and start a mass movement?
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Jan 23, 2018 04:13pm
@Hasnain Haque Sadly, your comment that
'Pakistan needs education badly' is one if the main themes running through these stories. What kind of parents would send their son back knowing that he was being abused?? The parents in this case are also guilty.
There should be no question of pardoning if there is to be any true justice.
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Jan 23, 2018 06:53pm
8 years old boy... Beaten to death... How can a human do this... I have a daughter of same age... I can't stop weeping thinking of that boy . Where is humanity...
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Jan 24, 2018 09:43am
Punish him on behalf of state to protect other children.
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Jan 24, 2018 09:49am
@Kamran Khan that would be anti-islamic. According to shariah the family of the victim has the right to forgive. The state however can commute the top count and make it life in prison.
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Jan 24, 2018 10:41am
Have our politicians ever thougt about making laws against this kind of murder ?. Life is spared under the Diyat law but state should give life sentence to murderers .
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Jan 24, 2018 10:42am
Awful!
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Jan 24, 2018 10:51am
@wolverine I think parents are illiterate in this case and maybe they pardoned the cleric because of his religious affiliations. Delusional parents sigh
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Jan 24, 2018 11:04am
Imagine the depth of psychological terror this cleric will cause to his student if allowed to teach after this incident.
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Jan 24, 2018 11:37am
feel sad for child parents are supposed to protect him
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Jan 24, 2018 11:41am
what about the rights of the society ? who is going to think about them. is it not the responsibility of state , judiciary, establishment, ? can not we even ponder for a moment that if we let loose such mentally unstable persons who beat an eight years old child to death in the name of pardoning by poor families. it is high time that we must make appropriate laws to distinguish clearly between murders by mistake and murders by choice. in the first case families can exercise their right of pardoning, but in the later cases, families should not have any right to pardon. it should be the responsibility of state to become party and prosecute the culprits and execute the judgements. and all the court process must be completed in less than 45 days.
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Jan 24, 2018 03:11pm
Arrest the parents of the child for sending him back to the seminary despite his first punishment. Needless to add, the cleric should be hanged for murder of an innocent 8 year old.
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