Disciplinary action burns Barisal madrasa boy

Family of a minor madrasa student in Barisal is preparing to file a lawsuit against his teacher for forcing him to take a bath in shivering cold and then trying to warm him up next to a kitchen-stove from which he sustained severe burn injuries.  

The victim is Mahin Howlader, a four-year-seven-month-old student of Char Selimpur Qweratul Quran Madrasa at Batamara in Muladi.

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"Boro Huzur took me next to the kitchen-stove. I tried to flee, but failed," Mahin told The Daily Star.

Mahin had not taken a bath for a few days since he had a cold. On the morning of December 23, Mawlana Al Amin, his teacher, forced Mahin to take a bath in a pond. As Mahin started shivering, Al Amin and three students took him next to the kitchen-stove to warm him up quickly. But the fire caught his clothes and Mahin sustained severe burn injuries to his chest.

Mahin was admitted to Gournadi Upazila Health Complex and then sent to Barisal Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital on December 25.

Mahin underwent plastic surgery on January 3 and was released from the hospital on January 14. However, Mahin is still suffering from his injury and needs better treatment, his father said.

His father, Nure Alam, resident of Shakokathi village of Gournadi, is preparing to file a lawsuit against Mawlana Al Amin, the superintendent of the madrasa.

Alam, who works as a legal assistant at a lawyer's chamber, took Mahin to a Barisal court yesterday  for advice from the lawyer on lodging a case.

Mawlana Al Amin could not be contacted as he did not receive repeated calls from this correspondent.

Sub-inspector Mizanur Rahman, acting officer-in-charge of Muladi Police Station, said he heard about the incident. Steps would be taken against the teacher after lodging of the case, he said.