The administration of Quaid-i-Azam University has called an emergency meeting of the university syndicate on Saturday to decide the fate of Controller Examination Muhammad Babar Mumtaz, accused of sexually harassing a female student.
A source in QAU told Pakistan Today that the inquiry into the case has been completed and it would be presented before the syndicate, the highest decision-making body of the university, on Saturday. The case surfaced on June 17 when a female student of Natural Sciences lodged a written complaint with the vice chancellor, accusing the controller examination of sexually harassing her when she visited his office.
Following the allegation, the VC constituted a four-member committee to investigate the matter. The source said that since recommendations of the committee were being kept secret, so it would be premature to say anything about the fate of the accused controller. He, however, said the manner in which the university has called the syndicate meeting there was little likelihood of controller getting absolved of the allegations.
On July 8, another case of sexual harassment surfaced when a group of five female students from the Information Technology Department accused lecturer Noor-Ul-Islam of intimidating them. The students brought the matter to the vice chancellor’s notice, accusing the lecturer of harassing them, particularly one of their colleagues, asking her to respond to his sexual advances or he would fail her. The VC sent the matter to the same committee for an inquiry.
The students wrote in their application that they were stressed and some of them are so scared that they were scared of raising their voice on this issue. The inquiry into this case is still underway.