Attock principal cleared after complainant fails to prove her case

Federal ombudsperson for harassment directs both parties to remain careful in future

The Federal Ombudsperson on Harassment has absolved a school principal of harassment charges after the petitioner failed to prove her case.

Attock Government Girls High School teacher Naseem Akhtar Awan had filed a complaint that Javaid Mehmood Malik, the principal of the Government Boys High School of Hazru District in Attock, had allegedly misbehaved with her and harassed her.

Awan stated in her complaint that she had been assigned invigilation duty by the Rawalpindi Board of Intermediate Secondary Education (RBISE) for supplementary exams. As per her assignment, she arrived at the boys’ school on February 12, 2018, at around 8:10am, around 20 minutes before the exam was scheduled to start.

She added that at around 8:26am, just four minutes before the exam was due to begin, Malik came into the examination hall and found the complainant signing envelopes.

Awan claimed that Malik misbehaved with her and asked her for her identity. She further claimed that Malik snatched the envelopes from her and threatened to call the police if she did not remove the veil from her face and identify herself.

Malik, in his defence, rejected the allegations and presented footage from closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) installed in the examination room as proof that he did not snatch the envelopes, rather Awan handed them over to him. Moreover, he contended that he did not threaten the complainant.

“The complaint of the complainant is false, absurd and dishonest carrying no iota of truth, thus may graciously be dismissed and the complainant may kindly be penalised,” the final judgment quoted Malik’s version. Federal Ombudsperson Kashmala Tariq in her judgment noted that Awan’s application was “contradictory to her earlier applications regarding the same alleged occurrence.”

It added that the matter has already been decided by the inquiry committees of the Attock Education chief executive officer on November 5, 2018, and the RBISE on October 20, 2018. Moreover, another inquiry was conducted by the Hazru District Assistant Commissioner on September 15, 2018.

“The complainant concealed the facts and the decision of the inquires,” the judgment noted.

“The starting point of the issue was signing of the envelopes during which harsh words were exchanged between the complainant (Awan) and opponent (Malik),” the judgment read, adding,” Both the parties argued on the seniority of their authority.”

“It is evident that the complainant failed to prove her case on concrete grounds of the law of evidence,” it read, adding, “She admitted on [a] number of occasions that no sexual harassment has been committed by the opponent.” “It is a question of ego; no one is ready to come to the point of reconciliation.”

It further added that per the law, Awan’s story was weak, misty and doubtful due to lack of evidence and therefore “failed to prove her case”.

Further, noting that she had concealed the past inquiry reports, ombudsman determined that the “complaint is based on some ulterior motive just to malign the opponent.”

Accepting the past inquiries in the matter as correct, the ombudsperson directed the two parties to remain careful in the future and not to create such problems.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2019.