Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho on Thursday formed an inquiry committee after a house officer at Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PUMHS) in Nawabshah levelled serious allegations against three varsity officials.
Parveen Rind, a resident of Dadu, who was doing her house job at the varsity's nursing section, claimed in a video uploaded on social media on Wednesday that the three officials beat her up after locking her in the hostel.
She showed torture marks on her arms in the video and said that she was being forced by the officials to follow their “unethical” orders.
In response to the allegations, the Sindh health minister formed a three-member inquiry committee.
Sindh Health Services Director General Dr Mohammad Juman Bahooto will be the chairman of the committee while Dr Shahabuddin Qureshi, deputy director general Directorate of Health Services, and Dr Rukhsana Channar, additional director Directorate of Health Services, are the other members.
According to the notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the committee will follow the provisions and regulations of the Harassment Act while conducting the inquiry.
"The chairman is authorised to select/co-opt any member(s) and can extend and include person(s) for inquiry/investigation besides the alleged officials. The committee would record evidence and submit the findings with recommendations for appropriate action within three days," the notification stated.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the committee informed the PUMHS vice chancellor that he would conduct an inquiry into the incident on February 11 (tomorrow) at 10am.
He requested the vice chancellor to ensure the availability of all concerned officers/officials at this time and to also ensure Rind's presence.
Rind accuses PUMHS officials of attempting to kill her
In the video uploaded on social media, Rind alleged that the three PUMHS officials had been harassing her since her first year in the MBBS programme at the university.
She said that they attempted to kill her like other girls before her. Earlier, the trio had also tried to snatch her mobile phone to blackmail her after they failed to force her into submission, she said.
She said that no student had committed suicide at hostels, apparently referring to the mysterious deaths of Dr Nimrita and Dr Nosheen Shah in their hostel rooms in Chandka Medical College, Larkana, Naila Rind’s death in her hostel room in Sindh University, and Dr Asmat Rajput’s ‘suicide’ in her home in Sita Road town. All had been killed, she claimed.
She said that she had suffered enough but now she was disclosing it all before media to protect her life and honour. In fact, no girl was safe at the university’s hostel, she said.
Nawabshah SSP Amir Saood Magsi told Dawn that a committee led by City DSP Sultan Chandio and the SHO of the women police station had been formed to probe the girl’s claims and submit a report within three days.
Police had, however, started the investigation without waiting for the report, he said.
The university’s registrar, however, rejected Rind’s statement in a press release on Wednesday and said that no such incident had taken place.
Her allegations were baseless as the university administration wanted to reassign hostel rooms among the students and house officers but Rind refused to shift to another room, the registrar said.
