Swat college to probe harassment charge against staffers

SWAT: Government Postgraduate Jahanzeb College Swat Principal Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah has said an inquiry has been initiated into harassment allegations raised in an anonymous letter against some the staff members.

He stated this while presiding over a meeting participated by the teaching staff, according to a statement issued by the college administration on Friday.

Mr Shah said college was a prestigious educational institute established during the former Swat state, providing quality education to students of the region, but some elements were trying to defame its reputation.

He said the issue of anonymous letter against some of the staff members was taken up by social and mainstream media in a wrong way. He said content of the letter was analysed and an enquiry was already initiated. He said strict legal action would be taken against those found guilty.

“A proper anti-harassment cell exists in the college, but this particular issue was not brought to it,” he regretted.

The college principal said if unverified news was spread the college administration had the right to take legal action against those responsible.

The administration has also asked those who wrote the anonymous letter to meet the management to convey their grievances. “The administration will resolve their issues without showing their names,” the statement said.

At the meeting, the teaching staff of the BS programme said that harassment allegations in the letter were made against the staff of the intermediate section, but media attempted to attach the matter to the BS faculty. They asked the media outlets to refrain from such practice.

Newspaper: Dawn

20 arrested for torturing woman dancer in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Regi police on Friday arrested 20 people over torture of a female dancer during a party on Thursday night.

The officials said the police were making raids to arrest the main suspect, Mansoor Khan, a local landlord, who had arranged the party for his girlfriend, and badly tortured the dancer.

According to the police, the incident took place in Mullazai area.

The female dancer told the police that she was asked to perform at a dance party by Mansoor Khan. She said when she asked his girlfriend about something, Khan got enraged and together with her, started beating her up. She said another accused identified as Saeed filmed the torture on mobile. Pictures of the dancer’s badly bruised body were widely shared on social media groups.

The police registered FIR against the accused.

Newspaper: Dawn

Couple burn maid with hot tongs for losing keys

KHURARIANWALA: A man along with his wife tortured a housemaid. They burnt her body with hot tongs after she lost the keys.

Qaiser Abbas, a resident of Cheema Colony, gave his 11-year-old daughter as a housemaid at the house of Misbah Bibi six months ago. Sheikh Irfan, the employer, used to pay her a monthly salary of Rs4,000. A few days ago, when the house keys were lost from the maid, Misbah Bibi and her husband Sheikh Irfan together continued to torture their maid and put hot tongs on her body due to which she was badly burned and the couple later locked the housemaid in a room. The housemaid, somehow, managed to escape from the house and was seen crying on the road. The citizens informed the team of the Child Protection Bureau (CPB). They reached the spot and took the girl into custody. She was transferred to the civil hospital for treatment and a case was registered in Madina Town police station after her medical certificate was obtained.

A spokesman for the police said that several politicians and industrialists kept offering money to the police and the family of the housemaid for the release of the arrested son-in-law of the industrialist. The case is filed by Ulfat Abbas, an officer of the CPB. He said that the Child Protection Bureau’s helpline received a call that 11-year-old, a resident of Pindi Bhattian, was working as a housemaid in a house on Canal Road. During the service, Sheikh Irfan and his wife Misbah Bibi tortured her and put hot kitchen tongs on her body. She was working there on a salary of Rs4,000 per month after her mother died six months ago. Irfan and his wife Misbah Bibi kept torturing the maid over small things.

Signs of past and present violence on the girl’s body have appeared in the medical report on the basis of which a case has been registered. After registering the case, Madina Town police arrested Malik Sheikh Irfan and started searching for his wife. Police said, the couple has violated different Child employment acts which include ‘The Employment of Children Act, 1991’ This law prohibits the employment of children in certain occupations and regulates the conditions concerning work for children. ‘The Punjab Restriction on Employment of Children Act, 2016’ is another law been violated in the context. Later, the 11-year-old housemaid was sent to Darul Aman by the Special Magistrate for improper facilities at the Child Protection Bureau.

Newspaper: Express Tribune