HARIPUR, Feb 14: A fifth class student set himself on fire after his teachers subjected him to corporal punishment over a trivial issue at the Kamilpur Hattar village, some 18km from here, the other day.

Mohammad Aamir, 11, was shifted to the Rawalpindi General Hospital with 65 per cent burn injuries where his condition was stated to be serious, family sources told Dawn.

In a statement Hattar police recorded at the Rawalpindi General Hospital, Aamir, a student at Government Primary School Kamilpur Hattar, said that the muffler of a teacher Mohammad Waseem, had gone missing.

Suspecting that Aamir had stolen the muffler, Mr Waseem with a colleague, Saeed Akhtar, beat up the boy with fists, kicks and stick off and on for three days to “extract the truth”.

On Feb 7, the teachers again subjected the boy to physical punishment and told him to return the muffler. Aamir said in his statement that the teachers had also threatened him that they would strip him if he did not return the muffler the next day.

Aamir said despite the fact that he had identified the student who had stolen the muffler, the teachers were reluctant to interrogate the culprit and kept on beating him. Aamir then told the teachers that he would set himself on fire if they did not stop beating him.

On the day of incident, Aamir having undergone another round of severe beating, went outside the school premises and attempted suicide by burning his clothes with a match. He was taken to Civil Hospital Kotnajibulla but later shifted to Rawalpindi General Hospital owing to his serious condition. Family sources said Aamir had meagre chances of survival as sensitive parts of his body had been seriously damaged. Police have registered a case against the teachers on the complaint of victim’s mother.