Muslim woman who beat child for not reading enough of the koran jailed for 9 months

From The Daily Mail

A Muslim woman who repeatedly beat a ten-year-old girl with a steel ladle for not reading enough verses of the Koran was jailed yesterday. Asia Parveen, who was five months pregnant at the time, left the child with 57 injuries and later claimed her violent outburst was prompted by her hormones.

Parveen, 31, had argued with the girl on August 15 last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court in London heard.

She accused the girl of lying about how many verses of the Koran she had read while praying. She then hit the girl with the ten- inch ladle for 45 minutes and forced her to stand with her arms outstretched for four hours. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, escaped when Parveen went to fetch a knife which she brandished, saying she was going to kill her.

She was found four hours later, alone and in the cold at the bus stop, by police. Doctors identified 57 injuries, including marks on her arms, legs, elbows and head, when she was examined at hospital.

Parveen, a former professional traditional dancer who had toured worldwide, had been fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan before the attack. She was considered to be ‘immoral’ by some in the community in Pakistan for her former dancing career and so wanted the girl to take her religious duties seriously. I understood that pregnant women and the sick were exempt from fasting.

Tom Nicholson, prosecuting, said: ‘The girl was praying from the Koran and Mrs Parveen accused her of lying about how many of the verses she had read. She was ten at the time. Mrs Parveen took a metal spoon about ten inches in size and hit the child with it repeatedly, causing extensive bruising over both arms, her legs and head. Mrs Parveen said she was going to kill the girl and ran to get a knife from the kitchen. The girl had no alternative but to leave at around 10pm.’

Jailing Parveen, who is now divorced, for nine months, Judge Martyn Zeidman ignored pleas in a letter from the child victim to spare her jail.

He said: ‘You need to understand that this was outrageous behaviour and if you ever attack a child again, you will go to prison for very much longer . . . Having a very young baby should not be seen as a get out of jail card’

Parveen, who was told the verdict by her Punjabi interpreter, collapsed in the dock while being led down to the cells by guards.

This woman has three children, which I presume includes the one she was pregnant with at the time. This child is not described as a daughter which leads me in wonder what the relationship is.