Class fellow torture case: School’s registration suspended

LAHORE:The district commissioner on Wednesday suspended the registration of a private school in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) where the bullying of a girl took place.

District Commissioner Mohammad Ali held the proceedings of the case. The registration of the educational institution will remain suspended till the next hearing of the case. The incident of bullying and manhandling of a girl by her female class fellows at a private school surfaced last week when the video of the incident went viral. A case was booked against four girls for allegedly torturing their fellow student.

DC Mohammad Ali decided on suspending the school's registration after hearing the arguments from parties in the case over District Education Authority's (DEA) recommendations stated in its inquiry report. The school's owner and principal also attended the proceedings.

The DC suspended the school's registration and directed the authority's chief executive officer to look after the school's affairs till the suspension of registration. Meanwhile, the school administration and parents of the students involved in the matter were directed to submit a reply in response for the inquiry report on the next hearing. The DEA CEO was also directed to issue notices to the parents in this regard.

Ombudsman seeks report

Punjab Ombudsman Maj (retd) Azam Suleman Khan has sought reports from the Lahore district education authority, and SP Cantt regarding departmental action on a viral video about torture of a female student in a Lahore school.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the spokesman said that DIG (Investigation) Lahore, ASP (Investigation) Lahore Cantt and chief executive officer (education) Lahore appeared before the Ombudsman at his office on Monday and apprised him of the progress on the case. The provincial ombudsman was told that the district education authority had set up a three-member committee under the district education officer (women elementary education) to investigate the matter and submit recommendations in three days.

The meeting was also told that the education authority’s rules’ violation might result in imposition of fine, suspension and other penalties against the private educational institution. Azam Suleman directed the education department and the police to jointly devise a coordinated strategy to prevent drug abuse among students.

In this regard, the scope of the district intelligence committee could be expanded to control the social scourge. The advisor (coordination) of the ombudsman’s office would also provide recommendations regarding prevention of drug use in schools, concluded the spokesman.