Parents pardon cleric accused of beating their eight-year-old to death

KARACHI: A cleric who had allegedly beaten an eight-year-old to death at a seminary in the Bin Qasim Town area of the city was pardoned by the family of the victim on Monday.

Qari Najmuddin, who had allegedly subjected Mohammed Hussain – the eight-year-old pupil – to corporal punishment in the past as well, beat Hussain to death on Sunday.

According to SHO Dhani Bux Marri, the young student owing to the physical abuse had run away from the seminary earlier, but his parents brought him back yesterday. When the child tried to flee again, Qari Najmuddin got hold of him and allegedly beat him to death with a blunt weapon.

While the cleric was taken into custody, the victim’s parents were reluctant to press charges and even refused to get a post-mortem examination done on the child’s body.

Although the family had refused, the police earlier had said that they would lodge an FIR against the cleric on behalf of the state as corporal punishment is prohibited in Sindh, owing to a law passed by the provincial assembly in February 2017.