TikTok clip lands Haripur teacher, female student in trouble

College administration expels the two for posting ‘indecent video’ on video sharing service

ABBOTTABAD: A short video clip has landed a young college teacher and his female student in trouble as they have been expelled by the administration for “violating discipline” after the clip went viral on social networking platforms.

The clip – which shows Rafaqat Hussain, an English lecturer at Postgraduate College Haripur, with his student Zainab Ali – was shared on TikTok, a popular video sharing social networking service, by “someone with ill-intent”.

It immediately went viral and has since been shared hundreds of times on other social networking sites. “They have been suspended for violating the college discipline by posting the indecent clip,” the college principal, Dr Muhammad Ishfaq, told The Express Tribune.

Giving breakdown of the events, Dr Ishfaq said when the matter was reported to him, he formed a four-member committee, which found the teacher and the student had violated the college discipline.

The matter has been referred to the director colleges and education secretary of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for further action. “Now, it’s for them to decide their fate,” Dr Ishfaq added. The pair has been banned from entering the college premises until then.

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Lecturer Rafaqat said they didn’t violate the college discipline. He disclosed that he was in a relationship with his student Zainab, 24, and they were planning to tie the knot with the consent of their families.

He said that the 20-second duration clip was shot by Zainab with her cellphone at a fish-point. “Can somebody do something indecent or something against societal norms publicly at a fish point,” he asked while speaking to The Express Tribune.

Rafaqat said the clip wasn’t meant to be shared on TikTok, but someone hacked into Zainab’s cellphone, stole the clip and shared it on different social networking portals.

Zainab, a student at English Department, said it was absurd to expel her for “violating discipline” because the clip had nothing to do with the college. “I’m an adult and mature enough to take my decisions. It’s my right to choose who to spend my life with,” she told The Express Tribune.

Zainab further said that the college administration has not only expelled her but is also refusing to issue her a migration certificate so that she could continue her studies at some other college.

“Me and my family are in mental distress as my studies are being affected due to the unnecessary controversy created by the college administration,” she added.