Hundreds of students of the Jinnah Sindh Medical University blocked the road outside the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Saturday to protest against lecturer Manzoor Ahmad Kalwar, an economics professor, accusing him of harassing students.

SHO Saddar police station Zahid Hussain told Aaj News that the police team reached the protest site as soon as they were informed about the protest.

The police officer said the matter was now being handled by the university’s vice chancellor, and that the teacher had been suspended.

The protesters said that when their fellow student, who is doing a BBA in healthcare, raised the issue of harassment by the professor, she was threatened. She was told to cooperate or else the teacher would fail her. The protesters say the administration was dismissive of their complaints, with one student claiming that he was told this “happens to every girl”.

They have issued a list of demands including the immediate termination of Kalwar’s contract, the formation of an anti-harassment committee with student representation as well as action against members of the university’s management who ‘supported the teacher by not taking any action agaisnt him for the last six months’.

The same was shared by a user on Instagram, believed to be a student at the university.

Meanwhile, angry students beat up the accused teacher on campus with an amateur clip of the attack shared widely on social media. SHO Zahid Hussain confirmed that the assault took place, saying that the teacher had submitted a complaint regarding the same but no FIR had been registered.

For its part, the university issued a statement, with the register Dr Azam Khan saying that immediate action was taken and the teacher was suspended.

“The complaint was registered in the Harassment Committee and the Disciplinary Committee immediately, and an inquiry was started. According to the registrar, the results of this inquiry will be completed and announced within a week.”

JSMU has an anti-harassment policy in place which is available on the front page of its website, it added.