RAWALPINDI, Oct 4: A teacher of St Mary's Academy was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death of a 7th class student last month after the deceased's father lodged a case against him, an official source said.

Mehr Ali, 12, died after collapsing from the stairs of the school while heading towards his classroom after serving punishment of 'sit-down and stand-up' ordered by his computer teacher Amir Elahi on September 19. The teacher was accused of torturing the student for forgetting his homework notebook at home.

The source said the school administration had also been accused of negligence and concealing the incident from the family of the boy.

When contacted, the principal of the school, Patras Bhatti confirmed that his schoolteacher Amir Elahi had been arrested after the boy's father lodged an FIR against him.

“Amir Elahi's family and friends held meetings with the parents of the deceased and tried to convince them that the teacher was not at fault, but the father decided to go for a police case,” he added.

Amir Mirza in his complaint to the Civil Line police said since he had been abroad his wife could not look into the facts behind his son's death.

On his arrival, his son's class fellows informed him that Mehr Ali was tortured by his computer teacher.

Quoting the class fellows of his son, Mr Mirza said: “The computer teacher used to torture students in the past and he had subjected Mehr Ali to torture that day.”

The boy's father said had his son been taken to hospital on time, he would have been alive today. He also accused the school administration of escaping from the hospital leaving his son's body behind and concealing the incident from his family.

After the incident, Amir Elahi was taken into custody by the police for investigation but he was not arrested because the boy's parents had not lodged a case as they had gone to their native town for burial.

The boy's family had turned down police offer for an autopsy saying they didn't want to lodge any case with the police. However, the police had recorded the statement of the school principal.

The principal had also formed a seven-member committee to prepare a report on the boy's death. The committee's report did not find any guilt on part of the schoolteacher, the source said.

The report contained the medical examination report of the hospital, the statements of schoolteachers and students and the school peon who was witness to the boy's collapse.

According to the principal, though the deceased was having breathing problem, the medico-legal report cited “spinal stem seriously injured” as the cause of his death.