LAHORE: Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design Vice Chancellor Prof Hina Tayaba Khalil has constituted a committee to investigate allegations of sexual harassment by several students against a faculty member.

Eight students of PIFD’s Furniture Department lodged a complaint with the vice chancellor against a teaching associate stating that they were working on their thesis project when he started taking their pictures without getting permission from them.They alleged that the teaching associate was in the habit of taking pictures of every student.

“We find it very uncomfortable because we are not wearing any scarf/dupatta while being snapped,” they said. They said no one from the faculty and their classmates was allowed to take their pictures.

Later, a number of students of the Furniture Department gathered on the campus and lodged protest against the faculty member for allegedly harassing the girl students by taking their pictures.

The students chanted slogans against the administration for not taking action against the teacher. They demanded that the administration had not formed any harassment committee and set aside the direction of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

They said they would continue to protest on Monday against the administration if strict action was not taken against the teacher.

Meanwhile, the teaching associate approached the Nawab Town police station and lodged a complaint against the students for hurling threats of dire consequences. He said he had stopped some students from outsourcing their thesis work and also reported against them to the committee and the annoyed students started hurling threats. He demanded registration of a case against the students.

PIFD Additional Registrar Haseeb Tahir told Dawn that the administration had constituted two inquiry committees to ascertain facts and take action against those found guilty. He said three incidents had taken place in the last few days including the one in which a faculty member reported that some students were using unfair means in internal examination.

In another case, he said, a student reported misconduct on part of a faculty member and the third incident was the one of the faculty member’s claim of being threatened by some students.

He said the reported incidents were referred to two separate committees for fact-finding and proposing action. He said they were waiting for the reports of the committees and action would be taken against those found guilty.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2018