HYDERABAD: A departmental committee established by the education department to investigate the suicide of a physically challenged laboratory assistant employed at the government girls’ college in Hala town on April 18 has drawn criticism from the Women Action Forum (WAF) for its perceived lack of objectivity.
The WAF urged in a statement released on Thursday that anti-harassment committees be formed in the education department in order to prevent the recurrence of similar instances. The statement claimed that the probe should be carried out by persons who were aware of human rights, women’s rights, and anti-harassment law.
The woman allegedly wrote in her suicide note that she was taking her own life because of the administration’s attitude, and she had been under continual stress due to harassment and insults from college administration personnel.
With the assistance of the community and law enforcement, WAF made an effort to gather information regarding the events that preceded her suicide. According to the report, the victim’s heirs did not file a lawsuit and buried her without having a postmortem performed after her body was recovered from a canal.
The department established a four-person committee to look into the harassment allegations, but WAF insisted on a high-level investigation rather than a departmental one, according to the statement.
It was stated that the departmental committee’s transparency could be called into question because it was made up of top education officers.
