HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued notices to provincial ombudsman on protection against harassment of women at workplace, Sindh IGP, DIG of Shaheed Benazirabad, vice-chancellor of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University (SBBU) and a lecturer, directing them to appear in court on Oct 3.

The notices were issued on a constitutional petition filed by Farzana Jamali, a student in English department at SBBU, her father Aijaz Ali and brother, Zohaib Ahmed through Ali Palh advocate.

The petitioners said that Ms Farzana was harassed allegedly by the lecturer, head of the English department, and she reported it to DIG. Many other students had also suffered harassment from the lecturer but they did not report it for fear of further victimisation and bad impact on academic career, they said.

They said that Ms Jamali was forced to have a relationship with the lecturer and was told that she would be awarded highest marks in examination in lieu of the ‘relationship’. She was asked to share her cell phone number which she declined. Later, she was blackmailed by the lecturer and when she reported it to the vice chancellor he grabbed her by the hand and told her that she “would have a bright future”, they said.

They said the incident happened in the VC’s office which left her dumbstruck. She immediately informed her parents about it but the lecturer and the VC were greatly annoyed when she went public with her ordeal. They lodged a fake FIR against her father and had him arrested, they said.

They said that she then reported the matter to provincial ombudsman for protection of women against harassment at workplace. SHO of Khadar police station was not at first ready to lodge the FIR but had to register it later when the issue was highlighted in media, they said.

They said that they were being threatened by the lecturer and VC while Ms Jamali’s brother Zohaib Jamali was booked in a case at B-section police station after he suffered injuries in a cracker explosion on Sept 28.

They said that Ms Jamali was unable to appear in examination as the private respondents who were still holding their positions were threatening her of dire consequences. The controller of examinations of SBBU should be directed to facilitate Ms Jamali so that she could appear in examination in a conducive environment at any place other than the university, they said.

The petitioners requested the court to direct the provincial ombudsman for the protection of women against harassment at workplace, Sindh IGP and DIG of Shaheed Benazirabad to ensure protection to the petitioners and restrain SHOs of police stations of Airport, B-section, Shaheed Benazirabad taluka and Khadar from registering any FIR against her, her father and brother without making enquiry and seeking permission from DIG and SSP.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2018