SWABI: The police on 22nd January arrested two teachers of a private welfare institution here for allegedly torturing an 11-year-old orphan boy.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has banned corporal punishment in educational institutions.
The Chota Lahor city police station booked the teachers under the Child Protection Act after a video of corporal punishment went viral on social media.
In the video, a teacher is seen holding both the hands of the boy and another teacher beating him with a stick with the victim crying in pain, while other children looked on.
Soon after the FIR, a police party led by DSP Fazal Sher Khan reached the Kashmir Orphan Relief Trust, Alamabad, in Chota Lahor, and arrested both teachers.
Human rights activists also reached the institution and met with the victim, Anees Khan. They vowed to fully support the boy.
Anees belongs to Parmuli village.
The teachers were identified as Nauman of Azad Kashmir and Ismail of Salah village of Chota Lahor.
Meanwhile, the administration of the institution has suspended both the teachers and formed a committee to investigate the incident.
DSP Fazal Sher told Dawn that in the preliminary investigation, the two suspects admitted to physically punishing the boy for trying to flee home from school.
The human rights activists also met with other children, asking them whether they were also physically punished, but they said that such incidents did not occur.
Meanwhile, a man allegedly killed his wife in Shahmansoor village here on Wednesday over a family issue.
Police officials said that the woman was taken to Bacha Khan Teaching Hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.
The police arrested the accused, identified as Obaid Khan, and recovered a pistol from his possession.
Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2025
