**Girls teach lesson to BISE **
LAHORE, July 14: Two girls who tried to ‘damage’ the property of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education on Monday out of sheer frustration may face harsh punishment.
Arrested by the Civil Lines police on the complaint of the BISE chairman, the girls, one of them medical and the other intermediate student, were released on bail on Wednesday.
The incident also speaks volume of indifferent attitude of the board’s employees towards students’ problems. According to the FIR, the girls entered the office of BISE chairman Dr Muhammad Zakriya Butt and inquired about the case of the FSC student pending with the board for the last two months.
The chairman assured them that a committee had been set up to resolve the matter which would give its report before the FSc results. Reacting to his answer, what the FIR said, the girls slammed the door and threw flowerpots at chairman’s vehicle and damaged it.
Besides, they also threatened to bomb the BISE building if their grievance was not redressed, it said :dhimpak:
The FIR was registered under section 186 (interfering in official business), 427 (damaging the government building or property) and 506 (hurling threats).
However, a policeman who reached the board’s office on the call of the chairman told this reporter on Wednesday that only one girl had ‘committed the crime’ whereas the other whose matter was pending with the board did not react.
He said at least two police officers had requested the chairman to forgive the girls as they had reacted out of sheer frustration but he (the chairman) was more concerned about the ‘dignity of his office.’ The parents of the girls also sought pardon but the chairman did not budge from his stand.
The policeman said the girls who repent their ‘crime’ had also sought an apology from the chairman. One of the accused (T), a resident of Baghbanpura, said after completing her MBBS from the Allama Iqbal Medical College she ran a tuition centre in the locality due to financial problems.
She said her student (the other girl) had appeared in FSc (pre-medical) exams in April this year to improve her division. While appearing in the chemistry examination, the girl was given question paper under the new syllabus instead of the old one, she said.
For fear of losing another year, the girl filed an application with the board requesting it to investigate the matter. She said the girl had paid at least eight visits to the board, a fact which was also confirmed by board employees, but to no avail. She said on Monday she accompanied her to the board office and inquired the matter from the chairman.
Instead of redressing their grievance, she said the chairman asked them to meet the same people her student had been seeing for the last two months. The investigating officer said seldom any FIR was suggested in such cases.
“Either compensation is given to the complainant or matter is resolved through written apology,” he added. However, the police had to register an FIR if the complainant was not ready to settle the matter out of court.
Supreme Court Advocate Manzoor Ahmed Malik said the FIR had been exaggerated to attract strict provisions of law. He said since no weapons had been recovered from the girls, clause 506 had been applied to teach a lesson to them.
The application of clause 427 was also not justified as the girls had only ‘damaged’ a few pots, he added. Mr Malik said the chairman should have overlooked the matter and maintained the dignity of women.
SSP (Investigation) Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmed said that the clauses 16 and 506 were not applicable in such a petty offence. He said he would omit these clauses after investigating the matter. The BISE chairman was not available for comments.