Geo News reported that Child Protection & Welfare Bureau (CP&WB) Chairperson Sarah Ahmad said on Monday that the young women who had revealed the accounts of maltreatment and sexual harassment are persistently being “blackmailed, sent threats, and facing intimidation tactics”.
Sarah said that some of the women are unable to file their applications despite assurances of security being provided to them. She said the safety requests were not being fulfilled.
“The police have added arbitrary provisions to the petition filed against the sexual misconduct at the private school in Lahore. The weak clauses added to the first information reports (FIRs) are the reason that the accused men could not be arrested. The teachers and staff members who were named in the case of sexual harassment have obtained pre-arrest bails and have been out since,” she added.
Last month, four employees of a private school in Lahore, including a male teacher, were sacked by the administration after they were found guilty by the school of sexually harassing women students. According to the school's administration, the four individuals against whom the complaint was lodged included a chemistry teacher Zahid Warraich, an administrative officer Aitzaz, an accountant Omar, and a security guard named Shehzad.
Numerous students had revealed that they were being harassed since long but had decided to report the incidents to the management after it became unbearable.
Earlier this month, Punjab Education Minister Dr Murad Raas had said the provincial government would bring a new act for private institutions after incidents of sexual harassment at the provincial capital's schools came to the fore.