Jhelum teacher arrested for beating students after video goes viral

JHELUM: A male teacher has been arrested and booked for beating students, police said on Wednesday, hours after an alleged video of the corporal punishment went viral on social media.

Authorities said a first information report (FIR) has been registered on behalf of the girls' father at the City police station, following which the teacher was taken into custody.

The petitioner said two of his daughters, both minors, were studying at the "Reformer Academy" in Jhelum's Mohallah Khansama, according to a copy of the FIR available with Geo.tv.

The father said in the FIR his daughters had refused to go to the tuition classes for the past few days and after asking them why, he got to know that it was due to fear of being beaten by their teacher. The incident had caused them severe physical and mental pain, the father alleged.

News of the arrest came shortly after Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the incident.

Buzdar sought a report from the regional police officer for Rawalpindi over the matter and ordered immediate action in accordance with the law against the arrested man.

"Anyone who violently beats their students does not deserve any concessions," he had said.

Earlier, Twitter users had called for the teacher to be arrested after the video, allegedly shot at a school in Jhelum, went viral. In the clip, the man was seen manhandling one of his students, a young girl, holding her by the scruff of the neck, shoving and then hitting her on the back, after which she collapses on the floor.

His face was clear and law enforcement agencies could certainly trace the "monster in the guise of a teacher", said one of the users, @mona_qau.

"Monsters induce fear into a child not teachers. No learning happens under this immense fear & children develop psychological issues cuz of this abuse," another user said.