KARACHI: Police on Wednesday booked six “students” of the University of Karachi in a case pertaining to harassing a female student on the campus on Tuesday night.

The case was registered with the Mobina Town police station under Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 337-H (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent act), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 506-B (criminal intimidation).

Area SHO Mohammed Nawaz said that complainant Amir Husain stated in the FIR that he was a student of the Sindhi department in the KU and on Tuesday night he was sitting with a female student at “Sufi Canteen”, located in the staff town, at around 9pm on the campus when six students — Hanan, Shariq Imam, Mohammed Umair, Muneeb, Asad and Kamran — and some others arrived there, asked his name and department.

The complainant said that they became angry when he asked as to why they were inquiring that. They started beating him with fists and sticks and also attempted to harass the girl.

On Wednesday morning, several students of the KU staged a protest sit-in and blocked the main Abul Hasan Ispahani Road for vehicular traffic. They demanded the police to incorporate relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 in the FIR against six students. However, the police convinced them that it was not a terrorism case. Later, they ended their protest and dispersed peacefully.

16 PSF workers granted pre-arrest bail

A session court has granted interim pre-arrest bail to 16 activists of the Peoples Students Federation (PSF) on Wednesday in a case pertaining to a clash between two groups at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

Last week, eight students sustained injuries in a clash between PSF and Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT).

After hearing the arguments, the court granted interim pre-arrest bail until May 13 to the 16 applicants against a surety bond of Rs20,000 each.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024