RAWALPINDI, Jan 21: The headmaster of a government primary boys' school was suspended on Friday over the allegations of sexually harassing a female teacher that he hired for his school without approval of the department, Dawn has learnt.

“The school heads are not authorised to hire the services of any person for teaching without the proper approval and notice of the district education department and in case of such hiring the headmaster has to face further action,” the EDO said.

The teacher (FB) in her complaint to Civil Lines DSP Office alleged that Jahangir, headmaster of Government Boys Primary School Dhoke Munshi near Gharibabad locality tried to sexually assault her on December 23. She said she resisted his attempt and later left the school.

“On December 23 Jahangir asked her to stay after the pack-up time as she had to check some notebooks of the students.

When she was going through the notebooks the headmaster tried to assault her,” the female teacher who lived in Dhoke Munshi with her mother and younger brother said.

In her complaint submitted on December 27 the teacher said she was initially discouraged by her mother from informing the police but she could not tolerate the attitude of the headmaster.

There were two female teachers hired by Jahangir on a salary of Rs2,000, and the school administration collected Rs20 from every student for their salaries, the complainant said.

On the other hand, Jahangir claimed: “I am absolutely innocent and the allegations against me are baseless. I ousted FB from the school in November as she used to meet a stranger in the school hours and there were complaints by her mother that she came home late.”

“My other teachers advised me to sack FB as they could face problems owing to her attitude. As I ousted her, she became annoyed and threatened me of dire consequences,” said the headmaster.

He, however, insisted that the heads of the government schools were authorised to hire the services of teachers on daily basis to make up the shortage of regular teachers.

When contacted Airport Police Station House Officer Chaudhry Khalid said his office received the complaint on Thursday from the office of DSP Civil Lines Office. He said he summoned the complainant but she was not cooperating.

The SHO said in his initial statement Jahangir denied the charges and the situation could become clear only after the statement of the complainant. He said Jahangir appeared before the DSP Civil Lines on January 1 and refuted the allegations.