A Muslim woman who repeatedly beat a ten-year-old girl with a steel ladle for not reading enough verses of the Koran has been jailed

Asia Parveen, who was five months pregnant at the time, left the child with 57 injuries and later claimed that her violent outburst was prompted by her hormones. The girl managed to escape when Parveen ran to her kitchen for a knife, and was found alone at a bus stop in the early hours of the morning. Parveen, 31, had argued with the girl on August 15, 2011, 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 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. Parveen, who lives in Hackney, East London, admitted a single count of child cruelty after initially insisting that she had used the spoon only once or twice on the girl’s arms and bottom. Parveen, who was told the verdict by her Punjabi interpreter, collapsed in the dock while being led down to the cells by guards.