Lahore: Four of the suspects arrested in the case were identified on Wednesday by a woman who was harassed by a gang of guys while traveling in a Qingqi rickshaw in Lahore on Independence Day.
The suspects were brought before Kamran Zafar, a judicial magistrate in Lahore, for an identification parade, during which the woman recognized four individuals who had harassed her on August 14 this year.
The accused, Usman, Irfan, Abdur Rehman, and Sajid, she informed the magistrate, had followed her in a rickshaw and harassed her.
According to the lady, they made lewd comments and Sajid got onto the back of the three-wheeler and kissed her.
After a video of the event went popular on social media, Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani took notice of the matter and arrested the offenders.
The lady was shown in the video traveling in the back of a Qingqi rickshaw, or Chingchi, which was surrounded by men on motorbikes, some of whom were catcalling her. While the woman’s back was turned to the other side, a man sprang upon the Qingqi and attempted to kiss her, leaving her clearly frightened.
IGP Ghani ordered Capital City Police Officer Ghulam Mehmood Dogar to file a report on the incident after the video was posted on social media. He had also given instructions for the individuals to be identified and apprehended using Safe City cameras.
The harassment incident was reported only days after Lahore Police filed a first information report (FIR) against hundreds of individuals for harassing and beating a female TikToker and her friends on Independence Day in the city’s Greater Iqbal Park.
The event was one among many instances of sexual assault against women that have recently surfaced in Lahore.
Around the same time, a man was accused of raping his 16-year-old daughter in Johar Town, while a teenage guy was accused of sexually assaulting a young girl in Nawakot.
Meanwhile, in Shadbagh, a guy was accused of raping a mother of four children, and the Lorry Adda police had also filed a complaint against a man for allegedly raping a female who was looking for work.
