A cleric who allegedly beat a seminary pupil to death on January 21 in Karachi's Bin Qasim Town area was handed over to police on a three-day physical remand by a district and sessions court on Tuesday.

Qari Najmuddin is accused of beating eight-year-old Mohammed Hussain to death. The child's parents had pardoned the cleric and refused to allow a post-mortem examination to be conducted on his body.

Subsequently, police registered a case against the cleric on behalf of the state under Section 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Corporal punishment is prohibited in Sindh under a law passed by the provincial assembly in February 2017.

The said law gives children protection against punishments to cause pain or discomfort by hitting, smacking, slapping, spanking, kicking, shaking or throwing a child; scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing their ears; or forcing child to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion by any person in the family, workplace, in schools, other educational institutions, etc.