National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) has been called out for its disappointing reaction to a student’s claim of being raped on its Islamabad campus, which surfaced over the internet on Tuesday.
According to Dawn, reports had claimed that a female student was sexually assaulted by a construction worker behind the girls’ hostel. The girl also reportedly complained to the varsity administration, “but no action was taken or FIR [First Information Report] registered”.
With social media flooding with posts claiming that rape did take place, NUST on Tuesady night took to Twitter to deny the same. It termed the reports “a desperate act of seeking attention” while also slamming “false rape allegations”.
“NUST is safe, and people have no reason to pay heed to this deceitful accusation,” read a subsequent tweet.
It wasn’t later that people started calling out the university for its “dissapointing” reaction.
Meanwhile, an international public policy and gender reforms specialist, Salman Sufi, who introduced the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2016 and South Asia’s first Violence Against Women Centre, urged the varsity to allow an independent probe into the incident.
“Safety must never be a factor students have to compromise on to secure an education. The era of student abuse on campus must be brought to an end now,” Sufi said while speaking to The Current.
“I have decided to launch a confidential reporting mechanism for students from all across Pakistan where they can report sexual abuse on campus and we will take action on it. To start, if NUST doesn’t allow or initiate independent investigation into rape allegations, I will move a case in court to compel them to do so.”
He further said that time for institutions or individuals to “self-stamp their exoneration from any assault allegation” had ended, and there must be an independent third-party review of facts.
