LAHORE: A first information report (FIR) has been lodged on an application by the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB) against five people who were terminated by a private elite school on charges of sexual harassment.

The FIR has been lodged under sections 292-A (exposure to seduction), 500 and 501 (defamation and printing of content deemed defamatory) of the PPC as well as Section 25 of the Telegraph Act against five staff members of Lahore Grammar School (LGS) Ghalib Market branch over allegations of harassment against them by their students.

“The criminals need to be brought to book to protect children from such cases in the future,” said Sarah Ahmed, chairperson of the CPWB.

Advocate Ahmer Majid, who claims to have advised the CPWB on the matter, said all the students, who levelled the allegations against their teachers, were under 18 years of age, which makes them minors and therefore, the issue must not be limited to merely a harassment angle.

Majid said a 2018 amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code strengthened Section 292-A, B and C by enhancing the punishment from five to 20 years in prison and/or Rs1 million fine.

“If Section 292-A applies then mostly Section 292-B (child porn) also applies, and the punishment is highlighted under 292-C,” he said.

“The kind of pictures shown to the girls comes under both sections A and B. However, it is a little difficult to prove that it was a case under the workplace harassment law.”

Following the LGS case, more accounts of sexual harassment at the hands of teachers and male students have come forth on social media, starting a wider conversation around the issue.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2020