HYDERABAD: Two judges of district and sessions courts who were assigned to visit women hostels of the Sindh University (SU), Mehran Univer­sity of Engineering and Technology (MUET) and Liaquat University of Med­i­cal and Health Sciences (LUMHS) to ascertain facts about security and living conditions in the wake of the murder of a hostel inmate, Naila Rind, in her room submitted their reports to the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday.

In its Sept 26 order, the previous bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar had asked the two judges to visit all three universities’ hotels and submit their reports about issues raised before the bench.

On Thursday, Hyderabad district and sessions judge Amjad Ali Bohio and Jamshoro district and sessions judge Jahangir Ahmed Dayo submitted their reports to the bench comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Khadim Hussain M. Shaikh when it took up a petition filed by Qirat Fatima and others seeking a judicial probe into the Jan 12 murder of Naila Rind, who was found dead in her Marvi Hostel room on Jan 12. Advocate Ali Palh represented the petitioners.

The district judges informed the bench that some female students of SU’s botany and chemistry departments complained that their teachers were harassing them and that the students requested anonymity fearing deduction in their marks or rustication.

Women students complain of harassment by male students, teachers & staff

The judges also brought on record the minutes of the Oct 24 meeting presided over by them and attended by SU Vice Chancellor Dr Fateh Mohammad Burfat, LUMHS registrar Dr Roshan Bhatti, MUET pro-Vice Chancellor Taha Hussain and deputy registrar Luchmandas and other officials. The minutes of the meeting were taken on record by the bench.

After briefly hearing the SU counsel, Advocate Jhamatmal Jethanand, Advocate Ali Palh, amicus curiae Sajjad Chandio and Additional Advocate General (AAG) Allah Bachayo Soomro, the bench adjourned the matter to a date in office.

Earlier, the district judges informed the bench that they visited SU’s Marvi Hostel on Oct 4 along with some women judicial officers and found deplorable conditions in the hostel’s block-A. At that time, neither the VC nor his representative bothered to meet them. “It indicates lack of interest and negligence on VC’s part who holds important position and is not expected to ignore such meeting. Later only hostel provost Ms Farhat Noreen Memon attended meeting,” they said.

Mentioning their meeting with the SU VC, the judges said that he was totally unaware of the girl students’ issues. He kept inquiring from the provost about hostel’s affairs on different questions.

He was unaware about maintenance and repairs and harassment of students by teachers, they said, adding that the VC was even unaware of the progress of the anti-harassment committee. He failed to answer as to how many harassment complaints had been lodged by students against their teachers and other people.

The judges noted that around 50 women students were living in a hall in deplorable conditions for which the VC had no answer. He blamed his predecessors and the relevant committee over the allotment in such a high number. No inquiry was conducted by him in this regard and a vague report was submitted after their visit, the judges said.

The judges said they directed the VC to personally monitor the harassment committee and submit a report to them on a monthly basis.

About their visits to MUET and LUMHS, they said the registrars of the two universities undertook to have biometric system and police security plan in place to ensure safety of women students at the hostels.

Questions and concerns

Justice Kalhoro inquired from Advo­cate Jhamatmal Jethanand, who represented the SU, to explain how teachers were holding administrative positions and also asked whether the post of registrar was of academic or administrative nature.

The counsel said that he was ready to argue on the matter if a date was fixed for arguments. Sajjad Chandio sought time to submit his citation that Advocate Jhamatmal could not argue in the case because he held the post of SU dean and his son served as its legal adviser.

Justice Kalhoro also showed his concern over the high level of security, not given even to judges, accorded to deputy director of women development department Fauzia Ashraf citing the SHC’s Sept 26 order. But the judge did not modify the very order, saying that the bench would examine Hyderabad sessions judge’s judicial probe report into the Naila Rind case before passing order to decide this petition.

Justice Kalhoro asked Fauzia Ashraf to show the law that mandated her to visit places/universities besides running shelter home. He told Kotri ASP Suhaee Talpur that she was not required to give escort to Ms Ashraf as the Sept 26 order required the DIG concerned to arrange the same.

The court was informed that pursuant upon the order, the “girls rescue escort” had been formed.

Position and conditions

The district judges’ report on the Oct 4 joint surprise visit to the Marvi Hostel was also brought on record.

The report said that the students’ entry/exit registers were not maintained properly. It seemed that there was neither a time schedule nor any rules and regulations. Most women students were found busy talking over mobile phones, it added.

It described the state of cleanliness in all blocks of the hostel as very poor. It remarked: “Undertrial prisoners (UTPs) live in barracks with better conditions than students of SU in hostels.”

It said there was no management for treating ailing students. Kitchens were not clean and no drinking water facility was there.

Women students complained they faced hooting and teasing from male students as well as harassment in classes. Some male teachers tended to seek mobile phone numbers and addresses of female students, it said.

It added that there were complaints of harassment also by the male staff posted at hostel’s mess and this was being ignored by the university administration.

The report contained a set of 24 recommendations.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2017