Nawabshah (Staff Report): A case has been registered against the Vice Chancellor (VC) and a lecturer of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (SBBU), Nawabshah, for allegedly sexually harassing a final-year student.
While talking to the media, Farzana Jamali, the victim said the lecturer had long been subjecting her to sexual harassment which disturbed her to the extent that she had almost decided to commit suicide.
She said that not only her studies were badly affected, but her family was also devastated as her father was sent behind bars for approaching the vice chancellor and police to seek their help. He was implicated in a false case to restrain him from his efforts to get the lecturer reined in.
Jamil added that her father when approached the VC to take action against the lecturer, he told him to send her daughter to her office alone. The VC also pressed the father to go for a compromise with the accused, she said.
After the victim’s father failed to fulfill the VC’s terms, he filed a petition with a local court.
The police registered the case against the varsity official under Sections 506 and 509(i) and (ii) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
However, the accused lecturer denied the allegations as false, saying he had chided the final-year student for not attending the classes regularly which might have offended her. He also claimed that the father of the girl along with some armed men also thrashed him badly on Farzana Jamil’s complaint.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also set up an inquiry committee headed by former Sindh University vice chancellor Prof Qadeer Rajput.
“During four years of my job at SBBU I found Arshad Saleem as "mentally ill, patient of complexity and very egoistic "man. He always tries to touch females and use to sexually harass female staff as well as female students. One of his most common habits (how to touch) is to stand on footpath during morning and evening (university opening and closing) time and forced students to walk on footpath and he (Arshad Saleem) tries to touch females while passing nearby him”, Ejaz Ahmed, in-charge media department expressed his views on social media.
"I wonder how he is doing job as a VC SBBU while he does not meet the criteria for a lecturer. Is Arshad Saleem only educated n well qualified person for the post of VC, for the post of chairman Board of intermediate and secondary education, in charge of women cadet college etc etc etc etc . A person who can not pass his nts subject test (entrance exam) for doctoral admission, keep focused on spoken English and scores zero percentile in English language portion of nts subject test becomes WORTHY COMPITENT AUTORITY as Vice Chancellor. Just a matter of shame as a nation for all of us", he added.
