LAHORE: Muslim Town police have registered a case against protesting teachers and employees of Punjab University over allegations of assaulting an employee during a protest and interfering in official business.
The case was registered under sections 147 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the First Information Report, administrative affairs and routine activities were affected during the protest, and action was taken under the Punjab Sound Systems Act over the alleged unlawful use of a sound system.
The case includes sections 147 and 149 PPC and section 6 of the Sound Systems Act.
University employees Chaudhry Basharat, Tanveer Awan, Tayyab Ejaz, Hammad Butt, Dr Kamran Abid, Sardar Asghar, Dr Majid Ali and Dr Muqeet have been nominated in the FIR.
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Section 147 of the Pakistan Penal Code deals with rioting and carries imprisonment of up to two years, a fine, or both. Section 149 establishes the principle of constructive liability for members of an unlawful assembly: where an offence is committed by any member of an assembly in prosecution of its common object, every member of that assembly is deemed guilty of that offence.
The practical effect of invoking Section 149 is that individuals who were present at the protest may be charged in relation to acts they did not personally commit. It is for this reason that the section is routinely applied in protest-related FIRs and equally routinely contested at the bail and trial stages, where the defence argument turns on whether a common object existed and whether the named individuals shared it.
The Punjab Sound Systems (Regulation) Act governs the use of amplification equipment, requiring permission from the district administration for public use. Section 6 provides the penal consequence for contravention.
Protest activity by teaching and non-teaching staff at Punjab University sits within a longer pattern of industrial action across Punjab’s public universities, driven principally by disputes over salaries, pension liabilities, service structure and the financial position of institutions facing recurring budget deficits.
Public sector universities in the province have in recent years faced sustained fiscal pressure, with several reporting difficulty in meeting salary and pension obligations from their own resources. That pressure has translated into repeated protest by staff associations, which have argued that the burden of institutional deficits is being transferred onto employees.
Punjab University’s teachers’ and employees’ associations have not issued a public statement in response to the registration of the case at the time of filing. The Lahore Times has sought comment from the associations named in the FIR and from the university administration, and will carry their response.
Registration of an FIR is the commencement of a criminal investigation and does not constitute a finding of guilt. Those nominated retain the right to apply for pre-arrest bail.
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