KARACHI: Police are looking for a young man who was caught on camera groping an unidentified woman on a road in Gulistan-i-Jauhar after the closed-circuit television camera footage went viral on social media, it emerged on Wednesday.

East-SSP Zubair Nazeer Shaikh said that the police took notice of the assault and efforts were under way to arrest the culprit.

Area SHO Iftikhar Arain said that the incident took place in Block 4 on Monday at around 11am and the owner of a house, outside of which the incident took place, had shared the CCTV video on social media.

However, no one has approached the police for lodging an FIR, the officer added.

Sharjeel says CM took serious notice of ‘shameful act’

Sharea Faisal SP Zafar Siddique Chaanga told Dawn that a police team was formed and working on it.

The SHO shared that since early on Wednesday morning, a police team had visited the spot, met the house owner, who shared the video on social media, and also questioned two private security guards who had ‘witnessed the incident’.

The viral video showed that a woman in hijab was walking down the street when a motorcyclist, wearing a mask, tried to sexually assault her.

The man took off his shorts, ran towards the passer-by and tried to grope her; however, she fought back bravely by hitting him. The woman’s retaliation compelled the attacker to step back and ride away.

The motorcycle had no number plate on it.

The area SHO said that the police had got some clues as to the identity of the victim and were trying to trace her to identify and arrest the suspect.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon also retweeted the viral video, which was first shared by a known social media page, and stated: “The chief minister already took serious notice of this shameful act. CM directed the IG Sindh and Additional IG Karachi to immediately arrest the culprit and strictly deal with him according to law.”

Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2023