Hafiz Hunain Bilal. Twitter photo

A teenager in the Pakistani city of Lahore has died after he was allegedly beaten severely by his school teacher, according to classmates and police.

The police said that Hafiz Hunain Bilal, a student of class 10, was "tortured" by his teacher, Dawn news reported on Thursday.

Quoting the boy's classmates, the police said that the teacher had allegedly done so because "he had failed to memorise his lesson."

The teacher has been arrested by the police and the boy's body has been shifted to the mortuary for a post-mortem examination.

According to a police spokesperson, "the boy was taken to the hospital from the school but could not be revived."

The FIR lodged by the victim's father said: "The school principal and administration had been mentally torturing my son for the past few days over non-payment of school fees...

"The teacher punched him repeatedly, grabbed his hair and hit his head against the wall, all the while yelling at him."

As a result, the boy collapsed in the classroom and died, added the report.

Social media users on Friday were in an uproar over the news of Hunain Bilal, being beaten to death allegedly by his teacher, with #JusticeForHunain trending on Twitter.

Twitter user Ayesha Sattar, who identified herself as a relative of the victim, said he had been "killed by his computer teacher" for "not learning the lesson." She added that Hunain had died "on the spot."

Another Twitter user Rimsha Naeem, who said she was Hunain's cousin, posted a series of tweets detailing the incident and called upon the Twitter community to rally against the injustice.

"You left us too soon, I can’t imagine another day without you. My heart aches knowing that he was brutally murdered and yet no one took any action. He deserves all the justice in the world. Twitter do your thing."

Responding to Naeem's tweets, Minister for Economic Affairs Division Hammad Azhar extended his condolences and said that the school was located in his constituency and that he was "personally monitoring the case".

"My condolences to the family on this tragic incident. The boy's family and the private school is located in my constituency in Lahore and I am personally monitoring the case. The teacher is in jail and I will ensure that him and the school is dealt with as per law."

He promised to hold meetings with "relevant education ministers" and discuss the "need for review of laws" against corporal punishment.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari termed the incident as "horrific" and pointed out that it was not the first incident to happen in schools in various parts of the country. She said that a bill against corporal punishment had been lying with the law ministry "for vetting" for the past four years and hoped that it would be cleared soon.

Agencies