Madrasa boy dies a day after beating by teacher
A madrasa student died of injuries on Wednesday, a day after he was beaten mercilessly by one of his teachers in Sadar upazila of Madaripur.
The 11-year-old Asif Matabbar, son of Anwar Matabbar of Sreenodi in the upazila, was a residential student of class-II in Gachbaria Jamia Karimia Madrasa.
Quoting the victim’s family members, police said Asif was allegedly beaten by his teacher Yusuf Ali on Sunday as he refused to comply with Yusuf’s order.
“A 500 taka note fell from the pocket of Yusuf and he ordered Asif to pick that up. As the boy refused to do so, the teacher beat him,” said Saugatul Alam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Sadar Thana.
Out of distress, the boy returned home but and did not tell anybody about the incident, the police said.
Asif’s parents took him back to the madrasa on Tuesday. After they left, Yusuf started beating him again, and at one point the boy lost consciousness, said the OC.
The madrasa authorities took the victim to Madaripur General Hospital around 5:00pm saying the boy took poison, he said, adding that Asif died in the hospital at 6:30pm on Wednesday.
Medical Officer Akhil Sarkar said the victim had marks of torture all over his body and he might have had some internal injuries.
Meanwhile, the news of Asif’s death surged into an uproar as locals in the community rushed to the hospital and protested the incident, police said.
They caught madrasa teacher Abul Hasan Khan, who brought Asif to the hospital, and handed him over to the police. Yusuf Ali is on the run.
The victim’s father Anwar demanded justice for his son saying: “Yusuf killed my son and I want justice!”
Salma Begum, the victim’s mother, has been in tremendous shock since the incident.
Asif was their only child since their eldest son had died of cancer several years back.
OC Saugatul said thy sent the body to Madaripur General Hospital morgue for an autopsy. No case was filed regarding this till the filing of the report at 8:30pm yesterday.
Condemning the incident, National Human Rights Commission recommended the authorities concerned to take swift actions against the culprit involved in the killing.
The Daily Star correspondent tried to contact the superintendent of the madrasa over phone for comments but found his phone switched off.
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