All private and public schools, universities, and colleges in Punjab remained closed today.
LHC forms full court bench for alleged rape, harassment cases against female students. The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday constituted a full court bench to hear the case of different incidents of harassment and alleged rape of female students in educational institutions. The full court bench would hear these cases on Tuesday.
LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum heard the case regarding the investigation of the recent alleged rape of female students in the Punjab College campus that sparked violent protests in the province.
Several hundred individuals protesting against the alleged rape, an alleged suicide at Punjab University, and a case of harassment at Lahore College of Women University (LCWU) have been arrested across the province as govt has imposed Section 144 banning gatherings and demonstrations.
Meanwhile, all private and public schools, universities, and colleges in Punjab remained closed today.
LHC CJ directed the authorities to take the statement of the alleged victim and ordered the committee headed by the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the matter of recent harassment incidents in educational institutions.
During the hearing, the Punjab IG Usman Anwer, Punjab Advocate General, and other officers appeared before the court.
CJ Neelum expressed displeasure with the police chief over their failure to prevent the videos from going viral on social media and controlling enraged students from taking to the streets.
She asked the reason for the delay in reaching out to the relevant agencies to restrict the viral videos. IGP Punjab responded that they contacted the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in this regard.
Chief Justice LHC asked, “What Punjab government done to stop the spread of misinformation?” The Punjab advocate general said that the relevant assistant superintendent of police met the family of the student being linked to the alleged rape and checked the CCTV footage.
