Foul play?: Hyderabad commissioner dissatisfied with inquiry into student’s death
26-year-old girl was found dead at Sindh University's hostel
PHOTO: YAHOO
HYDERABAD:
Hyderabad commissioner Qazi Shahid Pervez has expressed dissatisfaction over Sindh University's (SU) internal inquiry into the mysterious death of a university student in the girls' hostel. He also raised questions about harassment and hostel management issues.
He told the media that the inquiry committee's start was not satisfactory after visiting the varsity in Jamshoro on Thursday and meeting its vice-chancellor and other officials.
"[The committee] has made vague terms [of reference]. Their objectives are not clear. Inquiries are not conducted this way. That is why I have told the inquiry committee in very clear terms that they have wasted three days," he said.
The committee is tasked with an internal investigation of death of N*, a 26-year-old final year student of the Sindhi department. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room on January 1.
The university administration and police have been suggesting that this is a suicide case. However, the family, rights activists and lawyers are rejecting this proposed cause of death and are demanding a judicial commission for the probe. The post-mortem report has yet to establish the cause of death.
"[A total of] 1,600 girls live in the hostel and we have the trust of 1,600 parents with which they left their girls at the hostel. But is this hostel protecting these girls the same way as [the officials] protect their own daughters at their homes?" the commissioner, who is administrative head of all nine districts in Hyderabad division, asked.
"We should pose this question to the university that why they didn't consider the need of installing CCTV cameras in the hostels. Why didn't they feel the need to maintain a register to record entry and exit in the hostels?" he asked.
He went on to point out that 9,000 female students are enrolled at SU but the institution's anti-harassment committee appeared dormant. Pervez suggested the vice-chancellor to frame new terms of reference for an internal inquiry, which not only answers the questions and apprehensions concerning the student's death but should also draft recommendations for future measures.
In a related development, police sources claim that a former SU student, Anees Khaskheli, was detained on Wednesday for interrogation. However, the police are not confirming the arrest. "Policemen came in a car and a motorcycle around 3pm to our residence. They called out my son and told him that the SHO wanted to see him at the police station and took him along," said the boy's father, Ghulam Rasool Khaskheli, registrar at Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology in Nawabshah.
He said his family never heard N's name from Anees. "I fear that the police may torture him to obtain a confession." Rasool maintained that he has checked the police stations in Jamshoro and spoken to SSP Tariq Wilayat but the police are tight-lipped about the matter, neither confirming nor denying the arrest. "I have been running in search of my son for the last 29 hours but I have been helpless."
Meanwhile, the Home Based Women Workers Federation staged a demonstration outside Hyderabad Press Club, requesting the Chief Justice of Pakistan take notice of the death. The organisation is among several other civil society organisations, including the bar association, that have made this demand.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2017.
Hyderabad commissioner Qazi Shahid Pervez has expressed dissatisfaction over Sindh University's (SU) internal inquiry into the mysterious death of a university student in the girls' hostel. He also raised questions about harassment and hostel management issues.
He told the media that the inquiry committee's start was not satisfactory after visiting the varsity in Jamshoro on Thursday and meeting its vice-chancellor and other officials.
"[The committee] has made vague terms [of reference]. Their objectives are not clear. Inquiries are not conducted this way. That is why I have told the inquiry committee in very clear terms that they have wasted three days," he said.
The committee is tasked with an internal investigation of death of N*, a 26-year-old final year student of the Sindhi department. Her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her hostel room on January 1.
The university administration and police have been suggesting that this is a suicide case. However, the family, rights activists and lawyers are rejecting this proposed cause of death and are demanding a judicial commission for the probe. The post-mortem report has yet to establish the cause of death.
"[A total of] 1,600 girls live in the hostel and we have the trust of 1,600 parents with which they left their girls at the hostel. But is this hostel protecting these girls the same way as [the officials] protect their own daughters at their homes?" the commissioner, who is administrative head of all nine districts in Hyderabad division, asked.
"We should pose this question to the university that why they didn't consider the need of installing CCTV cameras in the hostels. Why didn't they feel the need to maintain a register to record entry and exit in the hostels?" he asked.
He went on to point out that 9,000 female students are enrolled at SU but the institution's anti-harassment committee appeared dormant. Pervez suggested the vice-chancellor to frame new terms of reference for an internal inquiry, which not only answers the questions and apprehensions concerning the student's death but should also draft recommendations for future measures.
In a related development, police sources claim that a former SU student, Anees Khaskheli, was detained on Wednesday for interrogation. However, the police are not confirming the arrest. "Policemen came in a car and a motorcycle around 3pm to our residence. They called out my son and told him that the SHO wanted to see him at the police station and took him along," said the boy's father, Ghulam Rasool Khaskheli, registrar at Quaid-i-Awam University of Engineering, Science and Technology in Nawabshah.
He said his family never heard N's name from Anees. "I fear that the police may torture him to obtain a confession." Rasool maintained that he has checked the police stations in Jamshoro and spoken to SSP Tariq Wilayat but the police are tight-lipped about the matter, neither confirming nor denying the arrest. "I have been running in search of my son for the last 29 hours but I have been helpless."
Meanwhile, the Home Based Women Workers Federation staged a demonstration outside Hyderabad Press Club, requesting the Chief Justice of Pakistan take notice of the death. The organisation is among several other civil society organisations, including the bar association, that have made this demand.
*Name has been changed to protect privacy
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2017.