The Arid Agriculture University (AAU) administration on Wednesday reassigned a lecturer accused of harassment to a non-teaching position.
The final decision against the lecturer was pending with the AAU vice-chancellor after a seven-member inquiry committee sent its finding to the head of the university.
A university official, asking not to be named, told The Express Tribune that the accused computer sciences lecturer had been directed to report to the registrar’s office.
On April 17, the father of a female student complained to the head of the department that his daughter had informed him about uninvited advances from her teacher.
“On March 31, the teacher called my daughter to his office after evening classes and talked to her using immoral and obnoxious langue. Again on April 7, the teacher intercepted my daughter in the parking area and used some unacceptable words,” the father, a government employee, alleged in his compliant.
The father said the inquiry committee had called him once for his statement and he had urged them to take any action they deem fit to discourage such incidents.
“My daughter is a third semester student and many other students informed me about the teacher’s undesirable advances,” he said.
The accused teacher, on the other hand, termed the allegations baseless and mere misconceptions. He said he had been associated with the university for the last ten years and could “not even think of harassing any of his students”.
Harassment Monitoring Officer Dr Azhra Khanum, who is heading the inquiry team, said she had completed the probe and forwarded their findings to the VC for final action, but was not at liberty to disclose the findings.
The accused teacher confirmed he had been transferred to another department.
He accepted the decision but took issue with how the inquiry was conducted. “Though all decisions of the university administration are binding on me, the inquiry team called me only once and never gave me any charge sheet or a show cause notice for the complaint.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2012.
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