–Female students say sexual harassment a routine affair at university, call for enhanced security

LAHORE: A video has recently surfaced on the social media of a rickshaw driver masturbating in front of female students in broad daylight outside one of the gates of the Punjab University New Campus, raising a question mark on the security arrangements in place in the area.

The video, which was captured by a female student of the varsity, shows the driver making lewd gestures.

Posted on Facebook, the video was said to have been filmed at the PU gate beside the Institute of Business Administration (IBA).

“Every day on front gates of Punjab University, especially on gate # 15, girls are being harassed. Guards and every other person who belongs to this university are silent on this serious issue,” reads the video’s caption.

It added that the varsity girls faced sexual harassment on the gates “every day [when] they leave university”.

Watch video here

The psychology student, who caught the perverted rickshaw driver on camera, told Pakistan Today on condition of anonymity that it was “a routine matter” and “not restricted to any single day”. She made the video while on her way home. “University boys and the people in public transport, mostly rickshaw walas, are involved in making sexual advances every other day at the gates,” she added.

Having no other means as conveyance, she pleaded, “Girls are forced to travel on these rickshaws despite knowing the driver’s behaviour.”

She further requested the varsity administration to take measures and prevent these incidents from happening in future.

While a number of people disapproved the wicked act through their comments on the Facebook post, others suggested that the girl should have had called the police helpline 15. “Dolphin Force would have dealt with the situation better,” responded a user.

When asked for comment, a recently graduated student admitted that girls faced offensive attempts of either verbal or physical nature while waiting for the bus or other transport means outside the campus. “I saw a man on gate 2 harassing girls when I was waiting for my bus 3 years ago,” she recalled an incident.

The female student went on to opine that “sexual harassment is everywhere in PU,” adding that these misconducts were not limited to the varsity gates.

Individual awareness among students regarding where to report complaints pertaining to sexual harassment seems low. A former student said she was unaware of the anti-harassment committee in the varsity. “Even if any girl tries to talk about such stuff with teachers, they show lack of willingness to cooperate,” she referred to her past experience.

A study published in “A Research Journal of South Asian Studies” aiming to investigate the responses of students on facing sexual harassment on the premises of PU had found that complaints were ‘seldom’ reported. Published in 2017, the research concluded that a majority of the female students ignored such incidents and chose to ‘avoid’ their harassers while not bothering to register a formal complaint.

When approached by Pakistan Today, PU spokesperson Khurram Shahzad denied that the video was shot anywhere inside the university’s premises. He expressed disappointment and called harassment an overall concern of the society.

He added that an anti-harassment inquiry committee was fully functional in PU under the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010, where students and staff members could lodge their complaints.