HYDERABAD, Feb 20: After an attempt of criminal assault on a girl student of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, by a student on Thursday, the situation at the campus remained tense on Friday.

The girl student had gone to a washroom of girls' common room, when Amir Raza Memon allegedly forced his entry into the washroom and tried to molest her. The girl's screams attracted attention of security personnel who rescued her and caught hold of the accused after giving him a thrashing.

The accused, however, managed to escape and his three alleged companions - Adnan Jamali, Muneer Memon and Shahab Anwar - were handed over to the Jamshoro police.

It was only after senior police officials directed the Kotri SP on Friday to register a complaint that a case was registered under section 354/34, PPC (attempted criminal assault) against the accused as neither university authorities nor victim or her parents had come forward to lodge an FIR.

The accused, Memon, reportedly belonging to the Sindh People's Students Federation, is absconding. The LUMHS vice-chancellor is reported to have appointed a committee to investigate into the incident. Nevertheless, the university authorities have not issued any statement about the incident nor was any university official available on telephone for comment. The victim girl is reported to have left the university.

Meanwhile, students wore black arm-bands at the campus to protest against the incident. On the other hand, the SPSF, LUMHS unit, criticized the arrest of its activists and said that the main accused had nothing to do with their organization.

In a statement, Mir Abdul Razzaq and other SPSF leaders alleged that Memon was a favourite student of the administration. They alleged that the whole incident was a farce staged to sabotage the SPSF movement against the university administration.