A TEACHER at a Blackburn mosque has been charged with assaulting a 12-year-old girl pupil after she was allegedly hit with a stick.

Mohammed Faruq Yusuf, 43, of Palmer Road, Blackburn, was arrested after an incident at the Mohadiss-E-Azam Mission, Wellington Street, off Shear Brow.

He was charged after police received a complaint from the girl's mother.

He pleaded not guilty when he appeared before Blackburn magistrates and was remanded on bail until August 23.

A police spokesman, speaking after the preliminary hearing, said the alleged assault occurred while Yusuf was teaching religious studies at the education centre of the mosque on April 30.

Yusuf is alleged to have hit the girl with a stick on the left arm and hand when she "inaccurately" answered a question, they added.

They said the girl claimed to have received cuts and bruises in the incident.

The mother made a complaint to police and Yusuf, who was teaching at the centre on a voluntary basis, was arrested on May 10.

Basharat Ditta, defending, said the case was extremely complicated and included issues of consent, reasonable chastisement and whether the mosque fell within the Education Act and parental consent.

Salim Mulla, secretary of Lancashire Council of Mosques, said he was sure the mosque committee had launched an inquiry into the alleged incident. The mosque declined to comment.