Dhaka, May 8 (UNB) – Police arrested the principal of a madrasah from Nawabganj upazila in Dhaka district early Tuesday on charge of torturing her students.

The arrested was identified as Jasmine Akhter, 28, Principal of Talimul Quran Madrasah at Shyampur in the city.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Kadamtoli thana police raided a house at Choto Boxnagar and arrested her at about 2:15am.

Fourteen minor students of the madrasah returned to the madrasah on May 12 after a 10-day vacation.

As the principal asked them whether they had offered their five-time prayers regularly during the vacation, they replied that they did not do that regularly, which angered the principal.  The principal then hit them with a hot iron rod.

As the news spread around, the principal along with her husband, Maulana Masudur Rahman, went into hiding.

The High Court banned corporal punishment in educational institutions, including madrasahs, in 2010.