However Federation of National Associations of al-Quran Tahfiz Institutions (Pinta) president Mohd Zahid Mahmood, claimed the boy was only beaten on the sole of his foot based on the school’s CCTV recording.
“It could be seen from the CCTV recording that the boy was beaten only on one sole,” he said.
“We obtained the information during a visit to the school and meeting with the principal and teachers,” he said after attending the presentation of aid to registered religious schools by Prime Minister Najib Razak here.
Zahid said Pinta was considering engaging legal counsel to defend the school and the assistant warden.
The report on the tahfiz school student, Mohamad Thaqif Amin, 11, who was warded at Hospital Sultan Ismail, Johor Bahru, last week went viral on social media.
The boy’s legs were amputated subsequently after both became infected.
An assistant warden of the school was arrested shortly after and is remanded for four days until Wednesday this week to help in the investigation.
The condition of Thaqif reportedly worsened yesterday after blood clots were discovered in his left shoulder, necessitating an operation be carried out to remove it. The outcome has been positive, said his aunt, Nurul Nabila Ahmad, 30.
She said Thaqif was however still in critical condition although the swelling in his face had subsided after dialysis treatment for his failing kidneys.
Zahid meanwhile urged the public, including the media, to stop finger-pointing and let the authorities investigate the case.
He said wild accusations only gave the impression that tahfiz schools were barbaric places to study in.
“Leave it to the police and doctors to make their investigations so as to get at the truth of what happened,” he said.
Meanwhile, the principal of a tahfiz school in Baling, Kedah, Abdul Rahman Yahya Tohar, said the standard procedure in such schools prohibited the beating of students.
“Whatever the wrongdoing committed, it would only be recorded and brought to the attention of the principal, and the disciplinary actions might include a fine, suspension, or expulsion,” he said, adding that emotional disturbance could have been the cause of the incident in Johor.
“Even if a student is caned, it would be done on a less painful spot on the body such as the sole, but that seldom happens – only if the student is really stubborn,” he said.