GUJRAT: A five-year-old student of a religious seminary was tortured to death allegedly by a teacher and his two accomplices at Karariwala Kalan village in Kharian Saddar police precincts on Friday.

Shah Zaman Khan of Swat, who currently resides in Amra Kalan village near Dinga town, alleged in his complaint with the police that he had been informed at around 12 on Friday that his minor son Eesa (5) was in a critical condition at the seminary, Madressa Jalalia Mazhar Islam, where he had been studying.

Upon reaching the seminary, the complainant said that he found his son in a critical condition, allegedly after a teacher Hafiz Arfan, Afzaal and an unidentified suspect subjected him to severe physical torture with sticks and kicks.

The injured child was shifted to the Dinga Civil Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.

The complainant’s other son, Musa (7), has also been a student at the same seminary, who too narrated the ordeal of his younger brother at the hands of their teacher.

A police team reached the spot and collected the evidence, whereas a team of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) also collected forensic evidence from the crime scene.

The autopsy was conducted at the Kharian Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, after which the body was handed over to the boy’s family.

The police have registered a case against two nominated and an unidentified suspect under sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

A Gujrat police spokesman says investigations have been initiated and raiding teams constituted to trace and arrest the culprits.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2025