Madrassa teacher arrested for beating six-year-old girl with belt

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Noida: A religious teacher arrested on Thursday for allegedly thrashing a six-year-old girl with a belt at a madrassa in Noida. Police said that the teacher thrashed her as she was not able to learn her lessons

The girl's father registered a complaint against Maulvi Mohammad Nawaz at the Noida sector 49 police station.

"Nawaz, who taught at the madrassa in Noida Sector 115, had gone absconding since police began the probe. He had come to the madrassa this afternoon where we nabbed him after a tip-off," SHO Ajay Aggarwal said.

"The teacher told police that he has always been careful while dealing with the students but the child seemed not to be learning her lessons and that irked him to the extent that he thrashed her with a belt," SHO Ajay Aggarwal said.

Following the incident, Aggarwal told PTI that the teacher has conceded that it was a "mistake" and was apologetic about the incident.

According to the girl's father, he had recently visited his daughter at the madrassa when he found that she had bruises on her back.

"She told me that she was brutally beaten by the maulvi," The father of the victim alleged.

He further claimed that on enquiring about the matter at the madrassa, he was "threatened by around 10 people who had sticks in their hands."

A non-cognisable report (NCR) was filed against the teacher, the SHO said, adding he was produced in a local court and has been remanded in judicial custody.

In another incident, A government school teacher in Madhya Pradesh's Jhabua district has been arrested and remanded in 14-day judicial custody by a court for allegedly directing some students to slap their classmate 168 times for not completing her homework.

Thandla tehsil's Judicial Magistrate First Class Jai Patidar on Monday turned down the bail plea of Manoj Verma, 35, additional district prosecution officer Ravi Prakash Rai said. Verma allegedly directed students to slap the girl, then studying in Class 6 at Jawahar Navodaya School in Thandla town, in January last year, he said.

According to the victim's father Shiv Pratap Singh, his daughter did not go to school from January 1 to 10, 2018 as she was unwell.

On January 11, when the girl went to school without completing her homework, Verma told her classmates to slap her as a form of punishment following which 14 girls slapped her two times every day for six days.

Singh lodged a complaint with the school management which constituted a committee to probe the incident. The panel found the teacher guilty and suspended him, the prosecutor said.

In the meantime, Singh also lodged a complaint with the police against the teacher under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.

He told police that his daughter was distressed and fell ill following the incident and had to be admitted to a local hospital. She also refused to go to school. The teacher was arrested in connection with the offence on Monday and denied bail by the court the same day.

In a similar incident, Dahanu court sentenced a couple to one year in jail and fined them with Rs 50000 for beating up a minor boy who had taken refuge near their grocery store to escape the rains.

The court added that if the accused had failed to pay the fine, they would have to serve an additional period of six months in jail.

A case was registered under Section 324 (assault) of the Indian Penal Code after the victim's parents approached the Kasa police station.

(With inputs from PTI)