Teacher held on charges of attempted rape

Haripur police have arrested a principal of a private school located on Railway Road for allegedly attempting to sexually assault his student.

Abid Hussain, the father of the 7th-grade student, R*, had registered a case at the City Police Station accusing the school principal of sexually molesting his son.

The complainant said that when his son came home late from school, he was asked for the reason, his son told him that the school’s principal sent all the students home after the school’s closure and asked him to stay back. He alleged that the school principal attempted to molest his son after taking him to the staff room.

Police arrested the teacher on the complaint of the student’s father and presented him before a judicial magistrate who sent him on judicial remand.

Earlier, Zahid Khan, the principal of the private school, had denied the allegations levelled against him saying that he has all the evidence in his defence including the recording of the CCTV cameras installed in the school.

He had denied that no such incident has happened in the school. He had said that the child and his father by levelling baseless allegations have filed a case against him. He said that he will approach the court of law for defaming him and the school by “twisting some other matter and portraying it as a case of sexual molestation”.

“I will soon put all facts and evidence before the public,” he said adding that the district police officer should take notice of the case and issue orders for a transparent inquiry.

Earlier, the officer on duty at the City Police Station had said that a case had been registered under PPC/377/53/511 CPA against the private school principal on a complaint of the affected student’s father and a medical report of the student was being awaited.

Musharraf Hazarvi, a well-known social worker, earlier said that “I have been associated with the education department for 30 years and still I am the principal of a school, the matter has become complicated and suspicious”. He said that police have shown haste in registering the case.

He said that the registration of a case against a school principal without the child’s medical report can defame all educational institutions. “If the abuse of the student could not be proved, who will be responsible for the damage done to the reputation of the school and the principal,” he asked and added strict action should be taken against the school principal if the child’s allegations against him proved true.

On the other hand, Haripur former Nazim and leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Imran Alizai, in a statement, has said that it was a very sensitive matter, how will the police prove the attempt of sexual abuse. He said that two eye-witnesses were mandatory in the case of attempted rape, to prove the allegations. He said that the registration of a case merely based on allegations without any investigation would be an injustice to the school’s principal. He said that police should take strict action against the school principal if they have a medical report with solid evidence.

JUP district president Hafiz Abd-ul-Khaliq Awan demanded a high-level inquiry to find out the truth.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2022.