A Pakistani man was held for harassing a female Turkish vlogger in Karachi after she posted a social media video showing the incident, which went viral.
According to the Pakistani publication, the Dawn, Sindh South-SSP, Asad Raza said that the Preedy police received a video clip via Whatsapp in which a man was seen harassing a woman who was making a vlog on Daudpota Road.
He said that the police searched the place and got confirmation from local shopkeepers about the incident.
“Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested the suspect and registered a case against him under Section 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Pakistan Penal Code and would be presented before a magistrate concerned on Saturday,” the SSP said.
As per The News International, Seda Nur, a female Turkish vlogger who is currently in Pakistan posts videos about the country. She recently posted a video explaining how she encountered an incident of harassment in Karachi’s Saddar area, which went viral.
In the video, Nur attached the bits from her vlog in which a man wearing a blue t-shirt was constantly seen walking behind her on the roadside in a market in Saddar. The vlog was cut where another clip started which Nur apparently recorded later to expose the “harasser”.
The vlogger said that a man kept following her while she recorded a video for her vlog and even “touched” her when he got a chance.
“So as you could see this weird man in blue who started following me and every time I was stopping, he was passing me and waiting on a spot for me to pass him again so he can follow me again,” Nur said.
The female vlogger said that she realised that something was wrong so she stopped and while she was checking her phone, someone “touched” her back, The News International reported.
“I just turned around and I was ready to punch someone, but I saw a little boy. He was just around 12 years old so I thought he might have touched me by accident,” she said, adding that she didn’t react considering his age.
Nur said while she walked towards her place, she realised that the “man in blue” was again behind her and “the boy” was also there on her left. However, she shooed them away by yelling at them, The News International reported.
Police swung into action after the video went viral on social media and arrested the accused from Khudad Colony, who later apologised to the tourist.
Pakistan has been regarded as the sixth most dangerous country for women to live in. The incidents of attacks on women are rampant in the country.Last year, Pakistan was placed 153rd ranking on the Global Gender Gap index.
The Human Rights Watch in its Annual World Report 2022 cited allegations of extensive rights abuses against women along with children in Pakistan, which ranks 167 out of 170 countries on the Global Women, Peace and Security Index.
“Violence against women and girls, including rape, murder, acid attacks, domestic violence, and forced marriage is endemic throughout Pakistan. Human Rights defenders estimate that roughly 1,000 women are killed in so-called honour killings every year,” said the HRW report.